With the high rate of unemployment and indebtedness of the population, thousands of families, throughout Brazil, have gone through great difficulties and deprivations. With the support of Petrobras, the Instituto Ramacrisna, with the support of Petrobras, is carrying out another delivery of gas vouchers, worth BRL 102.00, and food vouchers, worth BRL 120.00, to residents of the Metropolitan of Belo Horizonte who are in a situation of social vulnerability.
The initiative will benefit 1,329 families, residents of Betim, Sarzedo and Ibirité, former participants in the activities of the Construindo o Futuro (Build the Future) project, carried out by Ramacrisna with sponsorship from Petrobras. The vouchers will be delivered every two months to the three centers of the Construindo o Futuro Project: Colônia Santa Isabel, Petrovale and Imbiruçu until the 30th of that month.
The initiative is already making a difference in the lives of many people. This is the case of Érika Maurício dos Santos, who is unemployed and saw the situation at home worsen. According to Erika, the gas and food vouchers arrived at a good time. “They will help me a lot with my family expenses. I can only thank the Instituto Ramacrisna and Petrobras”, she says.
According to the vice president of the Instituto Ramacrisna, Solange Bottaro, despite the most difficult moment of the pandemic having passed, most people in social and economic vulnerability in the country continue to go through critical moments. This happens, she emphasizes, because unemployment remains high and affects mainly low-income families. “Delivering the benefit to families enables a better quality of life for them and fulfills one of Ramacrisna’s goals, to support families in times of greatest difficulty”, she emphasizes.
This action is part of Petrobras’ social initiative focused on access to cooking gas, which covers all regions of the country and provides for the distribution of cylinders or aid for the purchase of cooking gas by socially vulnerable families, associated, when possible, with delivery of food items. For this stage of the initiative, Petrobras entered into a partnership with 56 non-profit institutions, which work in the execution of the company’s socio-environmental projects and environmental conditions, to make the donation to the selected families. More than 400 thousand people in situations of social vulnerability will benefit directly and indirectly, living in the vicinity of the company’s operational units or participating in projects supported by the company, in sixteen states of the country. Families are identified with the support of partner institutions, which are responsible for operationalizing donations.
“We want to be closer to society by supporting the most vulnerable families. This action will be carried out in several states of the country, with the fundamental support of Petrobras’ partner institutions, such as Ramacrisna, focusing mainly on the regions where we have operations. The company is sensitive to the needs of society and we are very gratified to be able to help alleviate a little the difficulties faced by these vulnerable families, so that they can have food and cooking gas”, highlighted the executive manager of Social Responsibility at Petrobras, Rafaela Guedes.
Construindo o Futuro
Sponsored by Petrobras, “Construindo o Futuro” has been taking place since 2020, offering several free professional training courses, including hairdressing, barbering, manicures and pedicures, administrative assistants, photography initiation and basic computer training, in addition to of workshops and activities to encourage reading. In 2022, the focus of the project is on sports and cultural experiences. The target audience of the actions are children, adolescents and young people, from 6 to 17 years old, primarily those who are behind in school – age/grade. In all, approximately 3,200 socially vulnerable people aged between 3 and 40 will benefit.
