By the will of the chairman Alessandro Arcidiacono and his wife Federica, in close collaboration with the neurosurgeon Ercole Galassi, then head of the Paediatric Neurosurgery at the Bellaria hospital in Bologna, the Associazione Bimbo Tu was established in 2007, which today has the status of Aps, from the Italian acronym Associazione di promozione sociale (Social Promotion Association). The mission of Bimbo Tu is to accompany children, adolescents and their families in the treatment process for diseases that affect the central nervous system by offering a listening ear, hospitality and free accommodation. Lucrezia Lanzani interviews Cora Querzè, general manager of the Associazione Bimbo Tu for FARE INSIEME Charity
FARE INSIEME CHARITY is the spin-off of the FARE INSIEME project dedicated to the presentation of some onlus and non-profit associations with roots in the area around Bologna, Ferrara and Modena and that carry out extraordinarily important and crucial work for the entire community. Here are some of their stories
by Lucrezia Lanzani*
“Evolution: every process of transformation, gradual and continuous, by which a given reality passes from one state to another through successive changes.”
«It all started in 2007 thanks to the will of our chairman, Alessandro Arcidiacono, and his wife Federica Morellato, who together had to go through the difficult experience, fortunately with a happy ending, of their son's illness, and felt the need to give something back to the community by supporting parents, children and adolescents with a hospitality project during the treatment process they are experiencing. This wish was transformed into a concrete project, which came to life in 2007 when the Associazione Bimbo Tu was established», says Cora Querzè, general manager of Bimbo Tu.
The first network of supporters of the Association was made up of friends, family and volunteers, who - in collaboration and in support of the Neurosurgery and Paediatrics Department of the Bellaria Hospital in Bologna - initially contributed by donating medical equipment and by offering entertainment activities for the hospitalised children. From the very beginning, Bimbo Tu had the vocation of creating a hospitality project for families who came from outside Bologna, initially with an accommodation in apartments, given on free loan for use to the Association or through bequests, but the donation of the old Casa Sant’Angela by the Curia of Bologna in 2016 allowed the structured accommodation and hospitality service to be launched. In 2017, the Bimbo Tu Foundation was born, which managed the fund-raising process to renovate the shelter, with more beds and the possibility of welcoming a greater number of families, together with the fund-raising campaign “Much more than a roof over your head” launched at the beginning of 2018.
«Thanks to the generosity of supporters and the constant commitment of the foundation, the renovation work began in January 2019, leading to the construction of the first half of the structure, which offered 25 beds for families. The PASS (Polo di Accoglienza e Servizi Solidali, i.e. Hospitality and Solidarity Services Hub) has become a point of reference for the area and also provides multifunctional spaces that serve the community and allocate the proceeds to finance the free hospitality of Bimbo Tu», adds Querzè.
The inauguration of the facility was in October 2022 and, in 2023, Bimbo Tu welcomed more than 450 families for over 1,300 nights. The commitment of the Associazione Bimbo Tu continues to grow and in 2024 a new fund-raising campaign “Much more than a roof over your head” was launched to build the second wing of the PASS. Welcoming families in accommodation hubs linked to “health migration” today is just one of the objectives of the facility.
«Society has changed significantly in recent years and with it also the needs of the families who ask us for help. Since 2021, our mission has also extended to support children suffering from nutritional and eating disorders and psychopathologies. In the second wing of the PASS, currently undergoing redevelopment, two floors will be dedicated to those who need family reintegration after hospitalisation», says the general director of Bimbo Tu.
Currently active in the main hospitals in Bologna (Bellaria, Sant'Orsola and Maggiore), the Association's work also extends to the Regional Centre for Nutrition and Eating Disorders at the Bellaria Hospital, where several projects are active, such as "My Pet", an IAA (Interventi Assistiti con Animali, i.e. Animal Assisted Interventions) project that helps create relaxing and playful moments in the company of trained animals and ceramics and art therapy workshops that allow patients to express themselves. Furthermore, music and personal care are an integral part of the activities, with the aim of never removing the concept of beauty of daily life in the young patients. The Tribù project, instead, is a playful and educational space managed by Bimbo Tu for paediatric patients and for the tiny and young toddlers of the hospital who are not there for health reasons, but accompany parents or other family members undergoing treatment.
«Another research project that is about to start concerns virtual reality and the treatment of eating disorders. Thanks to a therapy that will soon be launched, girls and boys who suffer from anorexia nervosa or bulimia will have the opportunity to see their avatar gradually gain weight, until they become confident with normality», adds Cora Querzè.
In 2024, Bimbo Tu also launched a series of awareness and fund-raising events, such as the “B.Great” dinner and the screening of the feature film Maledimiele by Marco Pozzi at the Modernissimo Cinema with a related debate, which saw the participation of the director and of experts, as well as the testimony of a former patient. The goal is to raise awareness in society on the issues of eating disorders and psychopathologies, involving an increasingly wider audience and creating awareness on the issues of psychophysical well-being with the aim to break down the social stigma related to these pathologies. Psychological support for patients' families, especially regarding eating disorders, is another fundamental aspect of the Foundation's activity. Psychological support groups have been started to help manage the difficult emotional-relational situation.
Over the years, Bimbo Tu has grown also thanks to the commitment of over 300 volunteers, who receive continuous training. The fund-raising and the association's activity have been fuelled by private individuals, companies, events and the sale of solidarity items. Among the medium-term objectives, the foundation aims to raise 2 million euros by 2025, to renovate the second wing of the PASS, dedicated to Dylan, a boy from Verona who was passionate about basketball and, before passing away last year, shared his life journey on YouTube. For this reason, a new area will be built with a basketball court, which can be used by patients. Among the projects about to be launched there is also “Adopt a space”, which allows companies to support the maintenance of the spaces of the Hospitality Hub, and the project “Tiny”, which concerns neonatal intensive care. Among the services that are now consolidated there is Risoamica, the magnetic resonance education programme that helps children deal with the anxiety that this diagnostic test entails, without having to resort to sedation and therefore hospitalisation. Finally, another new development is the “Switch” project, dedicated to digital literacy and intended for primary and middle schools and fifth grade elementary schools in San Lazzaro di Savena, to raise awareness among children about online safety and on the opportunities and dangers that surfing entails.
Bimbo Tu, with the Hospitality and Solidarity Services Hub, is not only a point of reference for those seeking hospitality, but is also an organisation that allows the community to be made aware of certain problems, in order to allow patients and their families to look to the future with optimism and lighten the burden they have to bear.
*Lucrezia Lanzani is a student at the Steam Emilia High School. She is seventeen years old and has always been interested in social issues. She has been volunteering for three years in different organisations in her community
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