Goal: 48179 € Raised: 48179 €
The ‘Street On The Rooftop’ is an area dedicated to children so that they can play freely in maximum safety, away from mopeds and cars that continually dart through the streets of the neighbourhood, and whose drivers often do not have a driving license or even insurance.
Goal: 10155 € Raised: 2500 €
A recording studio where the neighbourhood’s children can create their own songs and where they can also be voice actors dubbing famous cartoons. A place of creativity, fun and pride!
Goal: 18360 € Raised: 6700 €
A space dedicated to learning and practising self-discipline through Aikido, the only martial art that uses solely self-defence and not attack techniques, a meaningful approach in a neighbourhood where, to be respected, one must be aggressive, or, at least, appear to be so.
2. organize selfless service activities for those who want to help but do not know how to organize themselves about it.
These are our active projects, which we are still expanding and improving by paying particular attention to the needs of our beneficiaries, and also thanks to our sponsors’ continuous support and our volunteers’ inspired dedication.
A healthy human society needs to adopt the path of synthesis, establishing unity in
diversity on the basis of a universal outlook. This is best achieved with the psychology of service and welfare. So be a volunteer, and become a pioneer of the ideal future!
Dona il tuo 5×1000 alla Fondazione Stella Polare Onlus per permetterci di continuare a rincorrere i nostri ideali di attivismo altruista anche per conto tuo. Informa il tuo commercialista o CAF della tua decisione, e condividi con loro il nostro Codice Fiscale 90028930882.
Donate your 5 × 1000 to the Stella Polare Onlus Foundation and allow us to continue chasing our ideals of altruistic activism also on your behalf. Inform your accountant or CAF of your decision, and share our Tax Code 90028930882 with them. If you do not live in Italy, this does not apply to you.
They are the most inspiring aspect of our work; with their inexhaustible desire to live and learn, and the simplicity with which they live in the present, they contribute every moment to make alive and exciting our mission to build a better future for everyone.
Jasmine is a lively girl, she is always ready to play with everyone and she is a real warrior. She likes to draw, run wildly and swim in the sea.
Emily is very talkative, she likes to talk about everything and more, and never spares anyone a hug and a kiss, especially for the little ones. She is a great lover of skates, so much so that she puts them on even when she is inside the classroom.
Asia is solar, and at the same time sensitive. She is a wild dancer and no one can stop her as soon as the music starts. But she also likes to paint and go for walks and hikes.
Michelle is sweet, calm and peaceful. She is always ready to help everyone and never loses her patience. She likes to play with the sand at the sea and to build many beautiful things with paper and other materials during the afternoon activities.
Corinne is sociable and always busy, she can never stay still and is busy doing something all the time: writing, drawing, telling, playing. She likes to play with the slide and the swing in the games room, and loves also to hum songs.
Klady is a force of nature: he runs, jumps, moves with his bike on the terrace, plays with the ball and no one dares to stop him. He is also very disciplined when he does his homework and, even if he throws a bit of a tantrum at times, he is very tender in nature and listens to what you have to say to him.
Walid is full of ideas, he always invents something new, be it a drawing or a work with ceramic, he does it with originality and ingenuity. He is good at reading, he likes to run on the beach and collect shells to take home.
Jason is insightful, you never find him unprepared and always knows what to answer in any situation. He loves playing football and sports in general and is very polite and diligent when he does homework and other activities.
David is a great prankster, he is always joking and laughing and always involves everyone when he plays because he easily relates to others. He is a great football goalkeeper, likes all kinds of board games, but above all he loves to dance.
Federica is nice and playful, there is always a big smile on her cheeks and she likes to embrace everyone. She is also very determined and when she decides to do something, she completes it by trying to do it in the best way.
Agata is whimsical, has a real talent for art and has made many paintings and drawings with many different colors and shapes. At the sea, she always wants to be in the water rolling around on the shore and getting carried away by the waves.
Chantal is fun and entertains others by always giving everyone one of her contagious smiles. She loves the art lesson, where she indulges herself in coloring the sheet with tempera, drawing everything that comes to mind!
Deborah is quiet, plays with everyone, young and old and is very good at reading and doing homework in any subject. She likes board games, soccer, the swing and masquerade parties (she dressed up as an angel at carnival!).
Maria is a rock, when something goes wrong in the games, she is the first to try to resolve the issue and everyone trusts her for it. She enjoys dancing and acting and is also very good at singing!
Hillary is intelligent, she is continually committed to making jokes and never lets herself be defeated in this. She always moves around in roller skates and also likes to organize and conduct games such as jumping with hoops.
Andrea is kind, patient and respectful, he participates in all activities with great enthusiasm. He is very good at learning to do new things and always has a lot of stories to tell about what happens to him. He likes outdoor games, especially hide and seek and “one, two, three: star”!
Oussama is a born painter, he easily draws any subject and does it with a lot of passion. He works hard at homework and has a great learning ability. He likes to play rope and hide and seek.
Giuseppe is respectful and always treats everyone with gentleness. He likes to listen to music and has a great imagination. His passion is the slide and the bicycle, with which on sunny days he likes to ride on the terrace.
In a world full of mirrors and filters that exist to tame reality, there is nothing better than direct experience, than meeting the interpreters and touch by hand the work done, in short, to distinguish facts from mere interest.
As a company we have always tried to give priority to small associations close to problems and to those who live daily within the field.
The Stella Polare Foundation immediately seemed to correspond to these principles, but the love at first sight came on the occasion of the first visit to the premises and to the project. The fact that the “periphery”, not only geographical but also existential, is placed at the center of the Foundation’s activities seemed to us a guarantee of quality.
Particularly appreciated were the search for sobriety and poverty – understood as a positive and more noble value of the term – applied daily by Dada and his volunteers in the care of children and in daily life.
Since we have always tried to invest in relationships, rather than spot interventions, projects such as Emporio and the Officina Fai da Noi or Lessons for Good, created by the Catania store in 2018, were born.
Thanks Dada and thanks to your volunteers who teach us the value of small things!
Many things in life are not explained according to our will, but only through acts of love.
So I see the project that Dada has been carrying out for a few years in one of the poor neighborhoods of Catania.
If I had not personally visited the place where Dada Ganadevananda is carrying out more projects, with determination and skill, I would not have considered that in our Italy the need to intervene was as great as in any other weaker country.
I am sure that the various projects that have already started and others that you intend to undertake, will be a great enrichment not only material, but above all moral and spiritual for the whole Community in which you work, since your inspiration is so strong as to “convince” even the more sceptical.
During the first visit to this project, our impression was that the foundation was just what this neighborhood needed and had probably been waiting for a long time.
The many volunteers who collaborate from different parts of Italy and the world make it clear, with their dedication, how it is possible to alleviate difficulties by fully living the spirit of service, combining it with joy.
The smiles and the overflowing exuberance of the children welcomed by the structure invite you to reflect on the importance of places like this, made of love and light. Who fully realize the essence of human life.
In a context of degradation, of total absence of institutions and any form of support, the only rules are the neighborhood ones. Dada Ganadevananda, a hero of our days, has managed to breach into this context: a white fly, a tough and determined man, firm on his strong legs, aware of his knowledge but above all with an immense sense of duty, an infinite love for his neighbors and armed of a sincere smile.
With his determination and together with a small handful of volunteers, he created something that for many was a utopia, starting a major renovation, giving new life to an imposing, semi-abandoned building.
His vision of serving others has led to the realization of other projects: from the summer Grest to after school support; from artistic laboratories to a dental practice; all with the sole purpose of offering a chance for a better future to children and less well-off people in these degraded areas of Catania.
His willingness to help is not limited only to children and people in this neighborhood in difficulty: the Dada has put in place a much larger and more complex project, aimed at elderly people in difficulty and women victims of violence.
What can I say .. to a person with so much will and such disarming altruism, goes my whole esteem.
An extraordinary project born in the working class heart of Catania often left behind, where disadvantage is of economical nature as well as for social and cultural issues. It is a very ambitious project and it has been realized with little resources and with many sacrifices from the staff and the supporters, always in constant evolution to expand the rendered services in support of the families.
It is my honour to give my little contribute putting myself at the disposal of the foundation as a person and as a professional.
Regardless of the level of competence or experience of each volunteer, what in the end makes the difference is how much heart accompanies their work, that passion of being an instrument of positive change, for themselves and for those who approach with confidence and need, to recite together a verse of that poem called life.
Founder, president and legal representative of the Foundation, Dada Ganadevananda, since 1987 engaged with various managerial positions in AMURT’s international solidarity projects, in Southeast Asia, in the Middle East, in South America and in Far East. Since thirty-five year practicing yoga and meditation, and, an amateur poet.
Has practised meditation and homeopathy for more than 30 years. Her training and experience in homeopathy, a holistic system of medicine, enables her to address the root causes of problems, be they physical, emotional or mental. She recently developed a recovery course and programme, Reconnect, to assist people in overcoming addictions. This is a new project that Stella Polare will run at its centre in Ispica. Gandharii continues to study the human psyche and her other interests include qigong, music, graphology and walking in Nature. She is a permanent volunteer with Fondazione Stella Polare Onlus, Italy and when at home in Singapore, she volunteers with a charity that serves the elderly.
Surveyor with a long experience in the direction and supervision of important construction sites, that is, of major works such as bridges and roads, Tino is a very reliable and competent technical resource, in short, a true master builder capable of perfectly designing and masterfully building masonry work, electrical and plumbing systems. Thanks to his service, the renovation of the building has happened quickly and with great savings.
I’m 31 years old and I come from Milan, Italy. I graduated at the German school of Milan and I’ve done various jobs, including working as a tourist guide, as a speaker overdubbing TV programs in German, English and Italian for different water sports and sailing channels and as a singer and guitarist of a rock band, before becoming in April 2018 a full time volunteer for the foundation.
My name is Nirupa. At the moment, I am engaged in the development of social media and team building in the project. I got acquainted with the project through the practice of yoga and meditation. Areas of interest: yoga, meditation, martial arts, psychology, philosophy, coaching – everything that conveys the skills of effective thinking and the disclosure of human potential. I started to get involved in volunteering from high school, when the idea of saving the world was more important than anything else. And still believe that the need to do something for others is part of the human experience and it is necessary for everyone to fully exist.
At the age of nine I began to study accordion and violin at eleven. In 1981 I entered as an internal student in the “Vincenzo Bellini” music institute of Catania. After graduating In Philosophy, I specialized in music therapy. I’ve been practicing yoga for more than 30 years.
I was born in Brescia, but I live in Catania now since almost two years. I graduated in Applied Arts and art is my passion: indeed I’m working full time on abstract art, ceramic and art installations.
Ashok. The skipper of the sailing catamaran of Stella Polare Foundation, a volunteer from Estonia. Interested in developing the project in a maritime way. Lives in the project on a full time basis.
I’m Tomás Giménez, I’m 25 years old, and I live in Catania with my wife. I’m a tenor, opera singer, musician, and web developer. I contribute to the project by assisting with after-school activities and teaching music to children.
I’m Arena Barbieri, I’m 23 years old, and I live in Catania. I’m an artist and UI designer. In the project, I contribute to Stella Polare’s social media, and in the after-school program, I help with homework, artistic activities, and games for the childrens.
I’m from Catania and I’m a keen book reader. Last year I published my first novel. Only recently I joined the team of volunteers working with the children and I found this experience very interesting for my personal growth and for the help I give to the kids.
Oriana, 32 years old, originally from Catania. After obtaining a degree in environmental biology, she began to develop a deep interest in alternative education systems, particularly those involving childhood. She currently attends art therapy school and is based in Ispica as a full-time volunteer, with the aim of developing a socially useful project involving children, the elderly, the disabled and people suffering from addictions.
Originally from Ireland, Arpan has been a full-time volunteer at the foundation since March 2021. As a music enthusiast, he has involved the local children in various musical activities, teaching guitar, piano and singing, while also helping with manual work around the building.
Since late 2023, Arpan is living in the foundation’s other branch in Ispica, dedicating his time to developing it into a promising new project of social benefit to the local community.
Carla is a Spanish volunteer from the European Solidarity Corps who works with after-school children, assisting them with activities such as math and artistic endeavors like drawing and dance.
Has a Master’s Degree in Financial Law and over-10-year international work experience in hospitality, restauration, and travel retail industries. She worked in Moscow, Crete, and Rome. In 2020, she realized that all her work was revolved around helping other people, to make them happier and more relaxed and that she was doing it because she needed to feel like this herself. At the same time, she started to pose herself questions about who she is and what she really wants from her life, what her mission is, and where she is going. She started to follow a spiritual path that led her to become a part of a big volunteer organization of yoga and meditation, based in Moscow. For the next 2 years, she helped to found and reorganize a new yoga center. She was responsible for the administration of the community and the Yoga Center. She was organizing spiritual events and retreats. Both her personal and professional paths led her to Catania, where she joined the Stella Polare Foundation, where she took charge of helping with project management and administration.
Do not believe even for a second that the quality of life can be programmed and defined by calculating one’s own interest alone. There is no future of joy and well-being except through one’s own personal contribution to the community. If you don’t believe it, take a sabbatical year and find out for yourself; you will never forget it.
To carry out social utility projects, one needs the largest possible goodwill coalition, made up of visionaries, pragmatists, competent and tireless workers, and last but not least, supporters whose belief in the goodness of the work, and desire to see it materialized, make all of it possible.
‘COZZO CORIA’, ISPICA
Located 110 km south of our main headquarters in Catania is our other half, ‘Cozzo Coria’; a large, old Ragusana-style house in the countryside, blessed with a hectare of land and spectacular views.
Here, we are in the process of creating a multi-purpose center that can contribute to the all-round wellbeing of the locality, already offering various workshops and events, such as yoga and meditation retreats or conferences. Our Ispica volunteers work day and night to establish deeper ties with the local community and develop the range of services to be offered both directly on-site and in the town of Ispica nearby.
Cozzo Coria is available to be rented for all kinds of events which are in line with our moral principles, boasting a spacious events hall with a beautiful stone wall interior and multiple rooms which can host up to 24 people.
For more information, please contact via Whatsapp: +39 3457749741
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