ROME – They are not commercial activities, they are not bars or restaurants, and not even theaters or schools: the result is that the 3000 Acli clubs and the 4000 Arci clubs have almost always remained closed since the pandemic exploded, with very few windows that also represented considerable costs for sanitation. Refreshments, nothing, because they are not economic activities even if many managers have a VAT number and some thousands of employees work within them. And now they are exhausted, many of them risk never reopening: “Even when the bars and restaurants were at least authorized to sell take-away food and drinks, we remained closed, a real injustice. – recalls the president of Acli, Emiliano Manfredonia – Now, for a few weeks now, we too have been authorized to supply take-away food and drinks in the yellow areas. And the Ristori decree has made 70 million available to us, for which, however, the criteria have not yet been disclosed. There are many associations in the Third Sector, I would not want a war between the poor to break out, but I hope that we also take into account that we pay rents and bills, even when we are closed. Half of our clubs risk economic difficulties due to economic difficulties not to reopen anymore, not only several hundred jobs are at risk, but also the social facilities often unique in very small municipalities where sometimes there is no he a bar “.
With the conversion of the Ristori Decree into law, the Fund for the Third Sector should go from the current 70 to 170 million, an amendment was approved in the Senate. In addition, Acli and Arci are also counting on an extension of the deadline for access to guaranteed loans also for the non-commercial Third Sector, because some clubs will otherwise not be able to meet all the backlogs. Despite the difficulties, in the meantime the clubs are making themselves available to the health authorities for vaccines: “In the Marche and Tuscany this is already happening. – explains the president of Arci Francesca Chiavacci – For us the situation is becoming so difficult that we cannot not even to register. We had a million members, now we have between 300,000 and 400,000 members because, since we were forced to remain closed, many were not even able to renew the card. We were not considered by many. decrees, despite the fact that we too are part of the economy, we pay the bills, we have employees. And not all of them have gone to layoffs: for example, there are associations that offer us theater courses, shows, in places where there are no principals cultural activities, and our clubs are the only place where such activities take place. These are important social activities, I don’t understand how their value is not been understood, not even considered “.
“There are 180 of us in Orciatico. – explains the president of the Acli club, Francesco Brunetti – We are a fraction of Laiatico, in the province of Pisa, it is the town of Andrea Bocelli. We don’t even have a bar, there isn’t any nothing, only elderly people live. For them our volunteers perform various services: they pay the bills at the post office, they buy medicines. We support ourselves by making coffee for the villagers, in the evening they drink a glass. In the summer they also come to us the British: there is a village with twelve apartments, they have been coming here for years, they are also our partners. Sometimes they send relatives and friends, we know them all. Last year, however, they did not come. We have a small account in the bank with what we have put aside over the years is getting thinner and thinner, if we fail to reopen I don’t know how we will pay the expenses in the coming months “.
“It has been almost a year, between openings and closings, that there is no activity. – says Gabriele Moroni, president of Arci Piemonte – Certainly the layoffs have given us a lot of help for the larger clubs, where there were several employees, but there are also unstable workers such as artists who hold courses or perform shows, seasonal, unstructured activities, they have not had any kind of contribution and we have not been able to help them. Our activities have also been suspended for a long time. in the yellow areas. We hope that aid will arrive soon, even if it is limited in numbers at least we will be able to pay the bills “.
“Here, in the lower Mantua area – says Antonio Valli, president of the Acli di Mantova – there are also many families of foreigners who live in the villages, often they are very small towns, of 300 or 400 inhabitants. They also have difficulties with Italian. , we try to help them by holding literacy courses but now all social activities are suspended. We have only managed to keep the services open, that is the patronages and the Cafs. But for many people our clubs are important points of reference, they always remained open to 7 at 9.30 pm. Now, however, the void has been created “.
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