The story of my relationship with the St John of God Hospital in Divinópolis started when I started working there. I became involved when I started to feel that it was a different kind of place, more than a hospital.

At a certain point, volunteer work flung open a door that allowed my feelings to find expression in the form of work devoted to helping others. My friend Tonino and I started out with the CAFEZINHO SOLIDÁRIO (SOLIDARITY COFFEE) service, which we carried on to the best of our abilities, and which still exists. The service consists in bringing people a free cup of coffee, bringing love and words of friendship to all visitors and assistants.

Today I love this hospital profoundly. To me it represents a place of healing, of benediction, of hospitality, charity and love, a place of peace and of work which we are reluctant to leave.

We all have the moral duty to fight on behalf of this hospital, to defend the neediest, who  find in it the principal safeguard of their health, and we must strive every day to ensure that it functions in the best possible way.

The creation of the Association of Volunteers of St John of God in 2013, established to provide financial support to the Cafezinho project shows how deeply this wonderful place inspires us and underlines the need to do more every day to help the needy and the sick inside the hospital.

I thank St John of God, spiritual founder and creator of these hospitals because his story, his heritage and his lessons of humanity and humility inspire us and guide us in our work and in our lives.."