A shelter for the homeless in Los Molinos

The hostel that the Marist Province of Ibérica has in the town of Los Molinos, in the northern mountains of Madrid, has been serving for a month and a half as a refuge for many people who do not have a home. Since 25 March, the building that usually hosts excursions and gatherings of young people from Marist schools has become the home of more than sixty users, as the Red Cross, the NGO in charge of the project, calls them.

In addition to the sad news of the deaths and infections of the COVID-19 virus in the last two months, the pandemic has generated an unprecedented economic crisis in Spain with the loss of almost one million jobs. The Red Cross centres have been overwhelmed and the Marist house of Los Molinos has been opened as a support centre, at the request of the Community of Madrid, to welcome many people whom the crisis has left on the streets.

Once assisted by the Red Cross and referred to our centre, users have three meals, a bunk bed and a library (located where the oratory used to be). “The maintenance is covered. Besides, there are some lockers and they are given new clothes which we have bought or that have been donated to us”, explains Loizna El-Bohdidi, social worker and director of the project.