But what does C.A.R.O.T.A. mean? Food, Agriculture, Network, Employment, Territory, Aggregation.

The C.A.R.O.T.A project was born in the spring of 2019 with the aim of generating a sustainable welfare model through the creation of a “system” of integrated services to combat poverty in the Mirafiori Sud neighborhood.

There are 3 tools fielded by Cooperativa Patchanka, together with Fondazione Mirafiori and Associazione Coefficiente Clorofilla, which have helped the fragile groups of the neighborhood.

The first tool is the three free social counters opened at the Casa del Parco (via Panetti 1) to listen to the inhabitants of the neighborhood. A total of 405 people passed through the desks (a number that decreased during the months of the pandemic), a team of volunteers was created to support the operators of the desks, 4 job placements were made and 48 personalized consultations were provided to assist users with debt problems.

The second tool was the urban gardens offered to 10 families in difficulty, who grew fruit and vegetables for their own needs and to help the volunteers of the Orti Generali collective garden, the urban garden park on the banks of the Sangone torrent that is open to citizens and visitors. A total of 1015 kg of vegetables were collected during the period by the 10 families involved.

Finally, free meals at the Locanda del Parco, whose food came from unsold local markets, supermarket surpluses and numerous other sources, as well as from Orti Generali.

During the Covid-19 emergency (march-may 2020) the C.A.R.O.T.A. project wanted to listen the needs of the local area to which it responded by donating 50 meals a day (1200 meals a month) to people in difficulty indicated by the Social Services, by local authorities and excluded from other forms of support, prepared by the cooks of Locanda nel Parco and delivered by the volunteers of the project.

In total, 4960 meals were donated and 12,200 kg of food were collected.

C.A.R.O.T.A. is part of the 15 generative welfare projects of Torino Social Factory program of the City of Turin, co-financed by the National Operational Program Metropolitan Cities and the European Union, European Social Fund, carried out within the framework of Torino Social Impact.

Watch the project video

To learn more about the Torino Social Factory program and the other projects go to this link