The “With You, to Shape the Future” project continues, which was launched by ABF and endorsed by Generali Italia and its agents to support young people through quality education. Lenovo is the project’s technical partner once again.

Genoa, November 6 – Yesterday, the “ABF Teach Bus” was donated to the Giannina Gaslini Children’s Hospital in Genoa, a real digital library designed to enhance distance learning that is part of the “With You, To Shape the Future – Distance Learning for Hospital Schools” project, which was conceived by the Andrea Bocelli Foundation (ABF) and sponsored by Generali Italia and Lenovo.

Today distance learning is an educational medium now known to all students, however in the hospital environment it is a real necessity. That is why ABF had approached the topic of education in hospitals even before the COVID-19 emergency occurred.

Veronica Berti, ABF Vice-Chair – “When we thought of this project, we thought of a way to offer access to quality and inclusive education even where this is often not the priority. At ABF, we strongly believe that taking care of an individual, especially a child, means taking care of their health and their education because these are the foundations for creating the conditions that allow them to express their fullest potential.”

This initiative is supported by Generali Italia and its agents to help the children and young people admitted to the long-stay wards of Italian pediatric hospitals. Generali are once again standing with communities that find themselves in difficult situations. This is a solid commitment that Generali Italia, together with The Human Safety Net Foundation, is advancing in Italy with “Ora di Future” – Time for the Future – also, the education project for children that involves teachers, families, elementary schools and non-profit networks.

Marco Oddone, Chief Marketing & Distribution Officer of Generali Italia, stated: “With our network, we are working hard every day to have a positive impact on the real economy and on people’s lives, giving substance and depth to our social role as a life partners. With this project from the Bocelli Foundation, together with our agents, we are supporting the children admitted to the long-stay wards of Italian pediatric hospitals to offer them tangible support. For us, this means having a positive impact on the communities and regions in which we live and work, and building trust through actions aimed at the growth and development of communities.”

The Director General of the Giannina Gaslini Institute, Paolo Petralia, explained: “The project, being carried out in partnership with the Italian Ministry of Education to provide young patients with real tools of support, integration and enhancement for learning processes, allows us to take another important step forward to make our children’s hospital a place where taking care of the child is never only limited to healthcare, but also extends to include their well-being and development, from a physiological and mental perspective. The new devices donated by ABF will be used by our teachers at the “Gaslini Hospital School” as real working tools that are vital in reaching all children, from those attending the day hospital to those hospitalized with more complex issues. It is another element to create culture and value for our children”.

As a community leader, ABF has chosen to offer tangible support to students, their families and their teachers with an initiative focused on enhancing distance learning and which sees it, once again, standing with communities that find themselves in difficult situations. The objective is to make available the tools required to develop individuals’ talent and help them start again within their own communities.

“The ABF With You, To Shape the Future for Hospital Schools project does not only include the provision of the ABF Teach Bus with tablets and computers for distance learning” – says Laura Biancalani, ABF President, – “ but also the creation of an online platform that will offer access to a vast selection of educational content, and the training and incorporation of a digital atelierista within the teaching staff of the school. Here at the Gaslini Institute, the first pilot project in collaboration with the Italian Ministry of Education and the Italian Pediatric Hospitals Association is getting underway, which we hope to be able to soon replicate in all other children’s hospitals and many other schools.”

Thanks to the “ABF Teach Bus”, the Gaslini Institute can now count on 25 tablets. These devices will be given to the students with all the content and apps installed, which have been carefully chosen on the basis of their age group also, and will go back to the digital library ready to be reassigned to another student – once their program of study has finished. In addition to “ABF Teach Bus”, it also includes the development of an online platform for ABF Labs, which will offer access to a vast selection of educational content, and the training and incorporation of the role of the digital atelierista within the teaching staff of the school. This sort of 4.0 librarian, in collaboration with the ABF working group, will promote new and transversal perspectives on the use of technological tools for students, thereby supporting teachers and families in how to best use these devices.

The donation made to the Gaslini Institute is the second “ABF Teach Bus” donation, after the “E. De Amicis” School Complex in Muccia, the Marche town harshly hit by the 2016 earthquake, which received the new digital library with 30 tablets and 20 laptops, thanks to Chopard and Lenovo.

“We are proud to extend Lenovo’s support to the Andrea Bocelli Foundation once again, to ensure that the young people hospitalized at the Gaslini Institute in Genoa can also keep up-to-date with their education through technology,” said Natasha Perfetti, Country Marketing Manager for Italy at Lenovo. “For children, school represents a fundamental point of reference, both for educational continuity and social contact, as well as support for their social and emotional development, especially in cases such as the that of these children who are experiencing a difficult time. We believed in the “With You, to Shape the Future” initiative from the start and we are happy to continue supporting it”.

You can help develop the “With You, to Shape the Future” project by donating at https://donate.andreabocellifoundation.org/ . You can donate from abroad via bank transfer using the following details: IBAN IT53K0523271030000010016699
Reference: With You, to Shape the Future or by sending an email to development@andreabocellifoundation.org.