Palermo (Italy). From 27 July to 10 August 2025, Mary Help of Christians Community of the Arenella district of Palermo, of the Sicilian Mother Maddalena Morano Province (ISI), hosted a work camp of the University Builders (UC). Two groups were engaged of volunteers of different ages, backgrounds, and histories, united by the desire to give themselves and put themselves at service with the aim of restoring new spaces to the Oratory–Youth Center.
For over 60 years, the UCs have been operating with self-financed weekly summer shifts, offering concrete help to entities in need of structural improvements. This year the choice, voted in the assembly in November 2024, fell on the Oratory of the Institute of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians, in the Arenella district, underlining the educational and social value of the Institute for the community.
The intervention focused on two main areas: the auditorium and the underground rooms, damaged by rainwater infiltration; the oratory gym, marked by the deterioration of the pillars and in need of restoration and repainting. The contribution of the Astalli Center and the loan of equipment from the Mission of Hope and Charity were fundamental.
For two weeks, two teams of about ten volunteers worked tirelessly with shifts even exceeding eight hours, facing unexpected events and tight deadlines. An emblematic episode was the decision, taken in a few hours, to completely repaint the gym to make it accessible for the new school year. Thanks to the availability of the Astalli Center and the collective commitment, what seemed impossible became reality.
The coordination of the Community Animator, Sister Maria Lucia Siragusa, was also decisive, as she too gave her contribution to the volunteers on the construction site. Welcoming the FMA Community was also a valuable opportunity for everyone to share and get to know each other.
The work of the volunteers has given new life to fundamental spaces for the neighborhood, places that are once again available to children, families, and young people. But what remains is not just material. Experience has testified to how much school and oratory are a life project, founded on high values such as inclusion, solidarity, and love for all that is life.
The mission of Mary Help of Christians Institute is clear: formation is not a mere transmission of notions, but a promise of the future, an opportunity for personal and community growth, opportunities for self-realization for the young people of Arenella, who are called to become aware citizens and a living voice of society.
Every renewed space is therefore an educational investment, a seed that can flourish in new possibilities for children and families.
The camp ended with the planting of an olive tree in the garden of the Oratory, in memory of the founder of the UC, Father Mario Ciman, and the volunteer Annamaria Gobato, both of whom passed away in recent years. It is a simple and powerful gesture, a sign of deep roots and hope for the future.
At the end of the camp, the group expresses their gratitude, thanking the Sisters for their welcome, patience, and trust; thanking the volunteers for their enthusiasm, the work done, the sharing, the generosity and the energy given; thanks to those who, with a gesture or a smile, made the effort lighter. A very special thank you goes to the Jesuit Father Gianfranco Jacuzzi, known as Jack, who despite his age, followed the two groups and worked with such passion and enthusiasm.
And a special thank you also goes to those who perhaps we will never meet, but who one day will experience these renewed spaces, making them vibrate with voices, dreams, and life. We entrust to them the truest meaning of this commitment: having sown a piece of the future, together. And… as Don Bosco used to say when he welcomed someone into his home, “Here you enter under the protection of Mary.”
