Enel Cuore is supporting Italy

As its name suggests, the activities of Enel Cuore come from the heart. In almost 20 years we have created hundreds of projects all over Italy, with a particular emphasis on those for the vulnerable and the education of younger generations. Enel Cuore, our Group’s charitable organisation, was created in 2003 in order to support not-for-profit associations in the communities where we are present. Our commitment has never ceased and in recent months efforts have been directed mainly towards the health emergency, both at its epicentre in Lombardy and in the rest of the country.

In total, Enel Cuore has allocated 23 million euro to a broad range of activities: from supporting the Civil Protection agency to the creation of more hospital beds, to the purchase of medical equipment to supporting Third Sector organisations and local administrations.

On every front of the emergency

“We are an Italian multinational with deep roots throughout the country and a strategy built on sustainability. It is therefore natural, a duty even, for our company to help in the areas where we operate and with the communities with whom we work every day,” explains Patrizia Grieco, Chairman of Enel and Enel Cuore.

The new field hospital at the Fiera Milano exhibition centre, for example, which was created in record time and opened at the end of March, was built thanks to a fundraising campaign involving Enel Cuore. The most urgent projects have naturally concerned the Civil Protection agency, the hospitals in Lombardy and the Fondo di Mutuo Soccorso (Mutual Assistance Fund) set up by the mayor of Milan Giuseppe Sala. In the province of Bergamo, together with the Fondazione Humanitas research foundation, we have launched an innovative project. In order to relieve the pressure on the hospitals, hotels and similar establishments have been identified to accommodate discharged Covid-19 patients, who are now symptom-free but unable to spend the obligatory period of isolation in their own homes. This initiative will double the capacity to accommodate discharged patients who, in this way, can be treated by qualified doctors and nurses.

A commitment spanning the length and breadth of the country

Our commitment during the current emergency doesn’t only concern Lombardy. In Emilia-Romagna resources will be directed towards the activities of the Civil Protection agency and to support healthcare facilities. Thanks to the donation from Enel Cuore, new intensive care beds and pre-triage facilities will be set up at the Guglielmo da Saliceto Hospital in Piacenza, the Infermi Hospital in Rimini, the Maggiore and Sant’Orsola Hospitals in Bologna and the Arcispedale Santa Maria Nuova in Reggio Emilia. 

In Liguria, on the other hand, the contribution will go towards making more hospital beds available, purchasing medical supplies and personal protection equipment and for healthcare facilities, including the Policlinico San Martino Hospital in Genoa.

The donation earmarked for the Marche will support the region’s hospital trusts and help fund the new Covid-19 field hospital due to be set up in Ancona. In Lazio resources will go towards the new Covid-19 hospital at the Policlinico Tor Vergata Hospital in Rome and to the project at the Sant’Andrea Hospital in Rome, as well as contributing to the purchase of technical items, ventilators and other medical equipment for the San Paolo Hospital in Civitavecchia. The donation for Puglia will be managed by the regional office of the Civil Protection agency and used for new intensive care beds, while in Campania and Abruzzo, funds will be used mainly for the purchase of PPE for the medical and nursing staff.

From children to the elderly

Enel Cuore’s efforts have been truly extraordinary and have been made in addition to maintaining the projects that our charity supports each year that have now become touchstones in the not-for-profit sector. Examples include the Fare Scuola project, which has so far involved 10 thousand children and 178 teachers, and the Dynamo Camp, which provides free holidays for children and youngsters with health problems. We collaborate with MOIGE (the charity of the Italian Parents’ Movement) to raise awareness to protect young people from the dangers of bullying, cyberbullying, paedophilia, alcohol and drugs. We also work alongside the Comunità di San Patrignano to help people get their lives back on track and to promote social inclusion. With the project Never Alone we help people become independent at work and at home, while with Terre Colte (“Cultivated Lands”) we are revitalising the traditions of working the land and offering new career opportunities for disadvantaged people in six Italian regions. And then, with Viva gli Anziani (“Long Live the Elderly”), we are working to combat social poverty both in the big cities and in small towns, by tackling the risks relating to solitude and isolation.

From children to the elderly, from north to south, our commitment over the years has striven to leave no one behind and to bring Italian society together. Just like in a big hug (which though under current circumstances might be taboo), its importance will never be underestimated by Enel Cuore.