Sponsor olive trees as a solution to the lack of generational change in rural areas: “Without sponsors, these trees have no life”

Pilar and her family’s olive trees were in danger due to the lack of generational replacement that could take care of them. According to this woman from Teruel, she and her husband can no longer take care of the trees that her parents left her as an inheritance due to their age. Apadrinaunolivo has been the solution they have found for this olive grove that is more than 150 years old.

Pilar explains that, for a few years, they had to leave Oliete due to lack of work. Oliete is an example of how abandonment and emigration marked many rural communities. For decades, depopulation left the town’s streets silent, but history is changing thanks to the work of Apadrinaunolivo.org. Since its founding, this NGO has promoted a social and economic transformation: the population has grown, the school went from having only three students to 29, and 43 jobs have been created, with a staff where almost half are rural women, thus breaking the gender gap. Apadrinaunolivo.org not only recovers olive trees, it also regenerates communities.

Throughout their lives the olive trees have been part of their family, they have all taken care of them. However, neither Pilar, nor her husband, nor her children can take charge, “the solution to see the olive trees cared for alive has been Apadrinaunolivo, it makes us part with them with complete confidence because we know that they will be cared for, pampered.” , to get production, without the sponsors these trees have no life.”

With the desire to change this situation, Apadrinaunolivo.org launches a special challenge for this Christmas. Under the motto “Be a solution”, the initiative seeks the collaboration of supportive people to reverse the abandonment of olive trees and restore hope to people like Pilar. This challenge runs until January 13 and aims to add as many sponsorships as possible.

Pilar turns 70 this Saturday and wishes that all the olive trees “that I have loved so much and which I have to get rid of” are sponsored and cared for. The challenge seeks to sponsor Pilar’s olive trees and ensure the continuity of this legacy. Each sponsorship is a direct contribution to keeping alive a cultural, social and agricultural tradition, in addition to strengthening rural communities.

Pilar is looking forward to January 13, when she will know the number of people who have decided to be part of the solution. Each sponsorship counts, not only for the recovery of the olive trees, but also for the regeneration of the social and economic fabric of emptied Spain. Initiatives like Apadrinaunolivo.org are a window of hope to transform realities and demonstrate that, with a small gesture, we can all make a difference.