Filling the plate: young man creates social project in Goiás to assist people who suffers from hunger

The association Caminhos do Bem Goiás was born in the middle of the pandemic in Goiânia with the objective to assist homeless and socioeconomic vulnerability people. Paulo Henrique (24 years old), president of the project, works as an elderly caregiver and always enjoyed social projects and, faced with a global crisis situation, decided to found the association along with his friend, Kiones Pereira.

What brought two friends to create the association was seeing so many people in the state of Goiás dealing with hunger. But only the two of them couldn’t do much, financially, to change the situation, so they had the idea to form partnerships with other institutions and people with the intention to strengthen the actions and be able to help those people in a more effective way.

Main activities

The main activities of the association are the delivery of food in hospitals, nursing homes and for homeless people. Caminhos do Bem also perform social action at the most needy locals in Goiás and get to other cities, that include Trindade, Aparecida de Goiânia, Senador Canedo, Bonfinópolis, Goianinha, among others. Besides that, the association also donates food parcels, supports mothers with trousseaus for their babies, delivers beds, furniture, clothes, school supplies, blankets and outerwear – in other words, everything they get through donations they give to the more needy.

In the future, the Association plans, getting the support needed, to offer courses and classes.

Faced challenges

Paulo Henrique says that the biggest challenge faced by the association is, and has always been, not having the conditions to support the demand of more than 6 thousand families that need help, being practically a daily struggle. “We don’t yet have the structure and help needed to improve the quality of life, if not of everyone, at least of the bigger part of the ones who need it, so that is our biggest challenge. The project does not yet have a CNPJ (“National Registry of Legal Entities”, in English), but we are arranging it, so that harms us, and all gets more difficult. We have to reinvent ourselves every time. But the important thing is that we are always fighting for the next one”, tells him.

The Associação Caminhos do Bem de Goiás has been managing to continue the activities that it proposes to through fundraising with charitable bazaars, solidarity parties, campaigns and asking for the collaboration of volunteers. But he says that they are still facing difficulties because of the pandemic. According to him, it is hard to get donations, manage teams and find people that help continually, not only in pontual times.

“Everyone uses to say that hunger doesn’t wait and it is true. But as long as I live and have health, Ill be fighting to help these families, that are hundreds”, finishes Paulo Henrique. 

The association has today a demand of, on average, 500 hundred families supported monthly. 

Did you like and want to help this project?

Access the Association’s Instagram, there you’ll find many ways to support it, personally or by distance, close or far away.