More than 280 metres of fabric that would have been waste at J.J. Louro was donated to the “Sementeira de Afetos” project, which turned it into half a thousand original and useful items.
“Sementeira de Afetos” (Sowing Affections) is a project developed by the Santa Margarida de Abrã Parish Social Centre (CSPSMA), through the “Semear Afetos” project, and its mission is to promote active and happy ageing, empowering the elderly and making them feel valued by society through their art, life stories and knowledge.
The project was supported by the Active Citizens programme, funded by Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway and managed by Calouste Gulbenkian and Bissaya Barreto Foundations. The support ran for 20 months and ended in December 2023.
At the public presentation of the results achieved during these 20 months, on 8 February, in Santarém Town Hall, Nancy Martins, the project’s Technical Director, highlighted the numbers that marked the initiative: 15 institutions from the municipality of Santarém involved, around 200 participants and more than 80 sewing sessions and workshops.
With a very strong social character, the project also has an environmental component, giving a second life to what would otherwise be waste. As a partner in the project, the Louro Group was represented by Elsa Benavente, who explained how the fabrics are collected and how some of them end up being used in products later acquired by the Group, such as the sensory cube that is part of the maternity bag offered to mums and dads-to-be from the Louro Group. “A good example of how we put social responsibility into practice,” says the Director of the Group’s Human Resources Development Department.
The “Sementeira de Afetos” also had the Santarém City Council and the Santarém District Union of Private Social Solidarity Institutions as partners.
