The UA joins Alicante Gastronomic Solidarity to prepare food for those affected by the DANA

The University of Alicante has joined the task of Alicante Gastronomic Solidarity to reach the municipalities affected by the DANA. Around a hundred university students have joined the efforts of this entity that carries out various volunteer tasks.

The initiative emerged from about twenty fourth-year gastronomy students and over the past few days has been extended to the rest of the university volunteers through the UA Solidarity Campaign with the people affected by the DANA, organized by the University of Alicante through the Social Commitment Unit of the Vice-Rectorate for Social Responsibility, Inclusion, and Equality.

The volunteers mobilized for this action "are performing all kinds of tasks such as cooking, packaging, processing and classifying menus and other foods, preparing sandwiches, cleaning, organizing, loading trucks, etc., everything necessary for the menus to reach those who need them," says the coordinator of the degree, Aránzazu Valdés, who highlighted "the excellent organizational capacity of the students who have fully participated." To this end, work teams have been established and organized by shifts to make collaboration more effective. "In each team, there are Gastronomy students for tasks more related to cooking and food handling, and others for more logistical tasks," she details.

Currently, the registration of people enrolled in the UA volunteer platform exceeds 700 people.

At the express request of the various entities with which it collaborates, the University of Alicante temporarily suspends and until further notice, starting tomorrow, the collection of food and other hygiene products. As explained by the vice-rector responsible for coordinating the campaign, Eva Espinar, "the solidarity wave of the university community and the general population has been so great that the warehouses are currently at the limit of their capacity, so now, the important thing is to get the food and hygiene products to the places where they are needed," and she assures that "this does not mean that we should not continue collaborating in other more specific and targeted actions."

In recent days, about twenty volunteers have been mobilized for tasks of classification, packaging, and transportation of products to the Alicante Food Bank.

The vice-rector explained that the possibility of restarting the campaign later is not ruled out "but always oriented to the specific needs that may arise, such as the specific case of the 70,000 masks that we sent to the Red Cross yesterday."

Eva Espinar assures that "many of our volunteers have expressed their interest in traveling to the disaster area to work on the ground, but at the moment, we depend on the authorizations of the competent authorities, because right now, it is necessary to focus on reconstruction tasks."

As soon as the magnitude of the disaster was known, the University of Alicante set up an emergency commission for the DANA, composed of the various vice-rectorates with competencies in cooperation, social responsibility, economic affairs, and students, as well as the acting rector, who maintains permanent contact with the various centers and services, the Student Council, student delegations, and other university bodies, from where collaboration proposals have been continuously received and will be implemented as the needs evolve. "The tragedy is enormous, and its effects will extend over time, so the important thing is that we remain active to continue providing the necessary support for as long as needed," assures the vice-rector.

All actions carried out by the University of Alicante are coordinated with the authorities and are channeled through NGOs for more effective and efficient use of resources.