Cuerpos Sanos, Vecindarios Sanos. San Blas, Madrid

As part of the Service Innovation Summit held at the end of March in Madrid, the U.S. Embassy in Madrid, Meridian International Center, and the Fundacion Rafael del Pino hosted a service project today in the district of San Blas of Madrid. Many will collaborate to make this project possible including the Realmadrid Foundation, the Plataforma del Voluntariado in Spain, and the Ayuntamiento of Madrid.  

This project took place during Global Youth Service Day an annual campaign that celebrates the mobilization of thousands of youth in service to better their community. 

The main theme of the project was “Healthy Bodies, Clean Neighborhoods” and included the effort to develop volunteerism activities for students at the bilingual institute of San Blas and to beautify a park close to the neighborhood. The school chosen was the Gomez-Moreno Institute of about 400 students. The students of the institute have demonstrated great promise for their community though volunteerism activities. The board of the District of San Blas has also been key in supporting this initiative. 

Today included the following activities:

Cuerpos Sanos (Healthy Bodies): Exercise and sports activities run by trainers of the Realmadrid Foundation at the Gomez Moreno Institute. 

Mentes Sanas (Healthy Minds): Dynamic English word games that incorporate the bilingual clases of the Gomez Moreno Institute. 

Vecindarios Sanos (Clean Neighborhoods): Beautifying the public view (planting flowers, cleaning benches, etc) of a park close to the Gomez Moreno Institute with the help of the board of San Blas. 

The agenda of the morning was as follows: 

9:00 am Arrival of volunteers and division into teams

The leaders of the teams and sponsors will prepare the volunteers for the development of activities. The teams will receive the information and prepartion for the events of Cuerpos Sanos, Vecindarios Sanos, preparation of games, materials, and more.

10:00 am Quick discussion lead by Ambassador Alan Solomont, Realmadrid Foundation, Plataforma del Voluntariado and representatives of the local government (Ayuntamiento). 

10:15 am  Start of activities

1:30 pm Event Finale

Please feel free to support this initiative by submitting your own experiences, photos and videos during Global Youth Service Day or another volunteer initiative. Please also help spread the word for a chance to win $5000 for a Spanish organized service project. More information here