Throughout 2023, ETMA maintained its commitment to the community by continuing its Social Responsibility actions. Once again, under the slogan « IMPROVING LIVES – TOGETHER FOR A CAUSE », ETMA’s employees chose an institution – this time ADOLESCERE – to patronise through a series of actions that would boost the empowerment, self-worth and integration of women, children and adolescents at social risk.
ADOLESCERE – Associação de Apoio à Criança e ao Adolescente (Child and Adolescent Support Association) is a non-profit Private Social Solidarity Institution that is part of the Braga Social Network. This organisation’s main objective is to provide services and initiatives to promote the health, well-being and quality of life of children and adolescents, families and communities in situations of vulnerability and social and/or professional risk.
Their greatest needs are to seek co-operation with companies and partners in the area of education and vocational training for the world citizens they are taking in, often refugees from countries such as Afghanistan, Sudan, Syria, Iraq, among others.
It was against this backdrop that, in the first half of the year, ETMA organised a number of campaigns among its employees to raise awareness of this cause, which resulted in donations and fundraising for the purchase of goods requested by ADOLESCERE.
Also noteworthy was the Sewing Workshop held in partnership with artisan Tereza Paula, which enabled a group of Afghan women who were institutionalised at the time to be trained.
The results of this first half of the year have been very positive and productive, as you can see from this article.
2ND HALF BALANCE SHEET
In the second half of 2023, the actions initially planned continued, and the balance is now presented at the end of another annual sponsorship action:
COMPUTER WORKSHOP
A Computer Workshop was held at ETMA’s premises for a group of 15 young people from ADOLESCERE. The success of the initiative was only possible with the support of OPT, which provided the computers and one of the trainers, Susana Alves, and ETMA employee Sara Faria, who also volunteered as a trainer.
These were some of the testimonies obtained at the end of this action:
FUNDRAISING CAMPAIGN
Towards the end of the year, ETMA organised another campaign to collect goods from its employees. Blankets, duvets, pillows and pillowcases were some of the items collected, which are certainly already making a difference to the well-being of ADOLESCERE users this winter.
As part of its Social Responsibility Policy, ETMA will continue to develop initiatives that provide a link and interaction with the community in which it is integrated, through initiatives to support social causes.
The new institution, project or social cause that ETMA will patronise throughout 2024 will soon be announced, once again chosen by its employees.