The press conference to present the two-day “Sport and Solidarity” event organized by Piroxy Cosenza with the patronage of UNICEF Italia and the Municipality of Rende was held at the President Hotel in Rende. Present at the meeting were the councilor of the Municipality of Rende, Federico Belvedere, the secretary of the UNICEF provincial committee of Cosenza, Ida Mancuso, and the vice-president of Piroxy Cosenza, Gaetano Piro. An institutional greeting and applause for the initiative also came from Pierpaolo Iantorno, councilor for public works and heritage of the Municipality of Rende.
Institutional interventions
Ida Mancuso (UNICEF Cosenza) underlined the value of the initiative: «This collaboration with Piroxy Cosenza is precious because it allows us to create a strong synergy with a community passionate about sport, offering people the awareness that solidarity can also be promoted through sport. Sport is a very powerful vehicle: it unites, involves, excites, and can become a concrete means of supporting the values that UNICEF carries forward every day. For us it is essential to make our activities known, from fundraising to the dissemination of information on UNICEF Italy projects. Through shared initiatives we can tell what we do in the world for children who live in difficulty.”
Federico Belvedere (councilor of the Municipality of Rende) highlighted the commitment of the Administration: «The Municipality of Rende granted patronage and the use of its logo very promptly. Our administration believes deeply in sport, especially youth sport. In an area like Calabria, where sports practice is unfortunately less widespread than in other regions, we believe it is essential to support all initiatives that can reverse this trend. The project promoted by Piroxy struck us precisely because of its ability to involve young people, create communities and enhance the territory through sport.”
Gaetano Piro (vice president of Piroxy Cosenza) recounted the evolution of the company: «Piroxy Cosenza is experiencing important growth from a social point of view. We are becoming increasingly aware that we have become a true sporting community, capable of uniting two splendid disciplines such as futsal and basketball under a single identity. We are very sensitive to projects that put young people and adolescents at the centre, and this is why we created ‘We Play for You’, our project which looks carefully at social issues and tries to give support to third sector organisations. Today this path is further enriched thanks to the collaboration with a prestigious organization like UNICEF.”