Mercadillo Solidario Fundación Aprender

When you think about your business, what are you most proud of?

This is a solidarity action. Everything we offer is donated by private individuals. The money raised is used for scholarships for children and young people in Fundación Aprenders programmes. In addition, we have volunteers who help us with its management.

Fundación Aprender is a non-profit institution that works to help people affected by specific learning difficulties - dyslexia - to achieve their academic and personal goals.

What is the history of your commerce?

This is an action that began to be carried out on an ad hoc basis in December 2014 (started by a volunteer) and, due to its success, we decided to maintain it permanently.

As a curiosity, it is open from Monday to Sunday and holidays!

Today, thanks to it, many families benefit from our programmes and services.

What is your professional experience?

Fundación Aprender was born in 2008 from the concern of a group of parents and teaching professionals to meet the educational needs of all those people, absolutely normal, but affected by specific learning difficulties (SLD): dyslexia, attention deficit disorder, dyslalia, dyscalculia, etc.

That small institution has grown and today it has a Corat Assessment and Educational Intervention Centre specialised in the assessment, diagnosis and treatment of ASD; Brotmadrid School with its own innovative pedagogical model; a Training Institute to train families and professionals; and a Research Space. It is also part of the ownership of Colegio Jara.

How has covid 19 affected your business?

Covid19 forced us to close the Solidarity Market during the quarantine period, which meant that all donations made during the quarantine period were reduced to zero.
As a consequence, the support of many children and their families was also affected.

What services and products does your business provide?

This is a charity market where you can find a wide variety of items, both new and second-hand, the latter being the most notable:
paintings, decoration, furniture, clothes, footwear, toys, household goods, electronics, handmade products, stationery, etc.