#DearBocconiansInAction...from Simone Manfredi

These are the darkest weeks that our country has expereiencerd since the end of the Second World War. It is a real war, fought by masked heroes to whom we will always owe the most unconditional gratitude.

In these few lines I would like to share my experience as a Red Cross Volunteer, not so much to talk about myself but to tell about the tens of thousands of Volunteers who have been devoting their energies every day for weeks to the service of the most vulnerable. And to seek in this Bocconi community of ours other volunteers who want to share their commitment.

There are people who call in frightened, who confide their fears to us. We reassure them, make them feel less alone and so we also feel less alone. Sometimes they give us clothes to be delivered to their hospitalized relatives. They look at us as if they found in us their loved ones that they haven't seen for days, weeks, as if they could transmit their affection in the relay of a simple package. There are restauranteurs who entrust us with hot meals to donate them to the Intensive Care staff. Words cannot describe how much it moves us to see the relief we find in the gaze of our masked heroes . Finally, there are people who approach us while we are in pharmacies and supermarkets, during delivery services for the most fragile, and thank us, thank us in all possible ways. We reciprocate those precious thanks, because they repay all our efforts.

I have to go, the live lesson on BlackBoard is starting. Because if you don't stop, you don't have to stop. Spring will come and find us tired, but it will be spring and we will return to our lives

Vigevano, 20 March 2020