The manager who hung up his suspenders to distribute 50,000 solidarity menus in Madrid

• Health The 30 years with asbestos of 200 families from Vicálvaro: "There is no portal where there are no cancer patients"

• Society The theater where "disability magically vanishes"

When Mr. Rincón abandoned his suit, his suspenders and his hairstyle as a manager of a company with 1,300 employees, he did so to finally venture into his own restaurant.

"He is being crazy, but yes, maybe he is very close to my dream," reflects

, while he observes his

.

But what he never projected, after inaugurating in January 2020 and closing two months later with the pandemic, is that he would end up preparing solidarity menus for the neighborhoods of

,

,

and

, in his own social entity, under the name

.

Until reaching 50,000 distributed and opening every Sunday as a soup kitchen.

The figure was celebrated last Tuesday, after the midday hustle and bustle in the kitchen and in the corner of the bar, where volunteers and neighbors packed the mincemeat soup, the stew with potatoes, the drink and the yoghurts that were later distributed drivers of the

and picked up

people in vulnerable situations

The service, which only requires a donation of three euros for the "nutritious" raw material, as the

and the

"in each covered area, it is stewed in the dead moments, while the 14 workers of this place, located in a business park, continue with their breakfast activity and 250-300 ordinary menus for the workers and families of the neighborhood. To which the head chef adds the other 50-60, for "also

", Jaime emphasizes, "they come to pick up their bag with the dignity of not being singled out.

... it's very hard.

Imagine coming with children and having to be on the street to get a bag of food," says this owner, a hotelier father and a chef mother.

The volunteers pack the portions of the menus to be distributed. ÁNGEL NAVARRETE

thanks him

, a user for years of

, where he arrived after the closure of the dining room of the nearby parish of the Encarnación del Señor, with his "myocardial infarction and a misery pension."

He claims: "I am a citizen who can

, thanks to the generosity and will of people like Jaime. Shame on them, I don't care if they are from the City Council, the Community or the Government, that there are people going hungry ".

He apologizes for "the political rally" and is tenderly applauded by the nearly 50 people gathered to celebrate this round achievement.

But with the bittersweet aftertaste of him.

.

It is true, we are not going to go with half measures", emphasizes Jaime. "But I put my kitchens in favor of the district, to contribute from private action to a social and neighborhood purpose, at a time when the Administrations were overwhelmed by the tsunami of need.

We don't get involved in politics or religion or football, we want to help and we help, "he says.

He speaks in the plural, because, after those first 20 menus that protected a handful of the almost 300 families registered in the

neighborhood

;

the

;

the

;

the

;

the

;

l;

;

;

;

... And up to donations of 12,000 euros from Quirón Salud or the National Police, with decoration included.

"We make our way with this civil network. I am very proud. Although, as I tell my wife and friends, I have hit my chest on the ground three times, about to close."

Because he started the journey with the Covid, and later the approaches of "Filomena, Omicron, the war in Ukraine, the inflation that of course is noticeable and, later, that there is no tomato ... We passed those of Cain to keep this open ".

One of the cooks prepares the solidarity menus. ÁNGEL NAVARRETE

But Jaime was stuck in the chest that day in April 2020, in which a scrawny

, with her 10 and 14-year-old daughters, knelt in front of him, as they left the Carmela Food House, to ask for a hot dish.

"It was very dramatic. I called Sandra, a waitress here, and she told me: 'I'm the only one with a job in my block. We are already

.' And on May 4 we opened to the public to contribute our bit in the neighbourhood, with

and

, from the associations, who knew what drama was going on behind each door".

The rest is history;

the table of diners grew to the banquet.

With Paloma hired for a while-she suffers from fibromyalgia, but continues to volunteer-.

With

who, after appearing on television to talk about this initiative, was saved from eviction thanks to José, who, from Valencia, paid his debt to the bank.

With

, who "fell in the

, lived on the street and was drugged lost", but today he works in this room, after taking hold of the training that they also offer to unaccompanied foreign minors and that are launched on the market work, successfully.

Training "100 kids and placing at least 40", after becoming a delegation of the

, will be the next project of this collective miracle.

Jaime even traveled to Ukraine with a convoy of Bomberos Ayudan, to feed 57 refugees during the journey to their reception in Spain.

"

so that they could fit more. Brutal, brutal", he is still emotional.

It does not avoid any fire.

"Unstoppables", he encourages to join.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

Know more

• coronavirus

• usera

• society

• Articles Ruth Diaz