Success stories

Eusebio Sacristàn foundation’s mission is to help people, especially children, who are in situations of social vulnerability, and it believes in the power of sports and free time activities as tools for a positive transformation. Mary Salatin, the new entrepreneur, chose this specific host because since 2004 the foundation has organized several campuses for both children and adults, and she was incredibly inspired by their method. In fact, thanks to healthy leisure and engaging activities, the foundation tries to create inclusion and integration. Mary was able to learn many new ways to create positive change, and above all she could improve her business skills and acquired more expertise to be able to open her own business. For his part, the host entrepreneur Pedro Alvarez decided to participate to the program because he was looking for foreign partners, in order to create new connections and to expand his international relations. 

Upon her arrival, Mary participated in the foundation’s language interchange program and she served for one week as an English teacher, giving lessons to the children. The new entrepreneur was able to work within the framework of European projects such as the LIFE and ERASMUS+, by supporting the host entrepreneur's team in various research. She also participated to one of their summer programs in the role of educator and this particular experience allowed her to verify the actual effectiveness of the Foundation’s approach, seeing the results on the children she was working with. Taking the advice of her host Pedro, who showed her every step of the process, once back in Italy she immediately started to work on her project: a nursery inspired by the German "kindergarten” style. A familiar and safe environment where children can feel welcomed, where they can spend time not only with the preschool teachers, but from time to time with their grandparents and with their parents too.   

Mary got to understand how a social foundation works, how the various projects are developed and the many relationships behind them.  She came back to Italy with a clear idea of what building a foundation takes, but this consciousness didn’t discourage her, it gave her more motivation to start with the hard work. Thanks to her entrepreneurial spirit, she immediately started to think of different scenarios not yet implemented by the foundation and the collaboration ended up being a successful exchange of ideas. She is confident that she will soon be able to develop her own project, a small business where she will welcome mostly socially disadvantaged children, taking care of them by providing education and activities. Her dream is to turn this small business into a bigger entity, in order to help more and more children, following the example of her host Pedro.