Some restaurateurs from Ripoll bring 2,524 solidarity nougats to Paiporta for Christmas to those affected by the flood

Ariadna Reche/Ripoll - Some restaurateurs from Ripoll have collected and transported 2,524 solidarity nougats to Paiporta so that people affected by the flood would receive a little something for Christmas. Through the campaign ‘From Ripoll to Paiporta, a nougat at every door’, Josep Arcarons and Georgina Valls have promoted this initiative in which individuals and companies from the region have collaborated, both by delivering nougats and in the process of wrapping them. “We wrote them cards and delivered them door to door”, details Arcarons, who highlights the emotion with which they received it and is grateful that so many people have turned out. The family already traveled to the affected area at the beginning of November, after the floods. At that time, they cooked and distributed around 3,500 hot meals.

Restaurateurs Josep Arcarons and Georgina Valls run two restaurants in Ripoll: El Trot del Cavall and El Molí. In November, after the severe effects of the pandemic in the Valencian Community, they closed their establishments for four days to go and cook in Paiporta. “I asked the team if they would come with me and since they said yes, we closed here to go and cook there,” explains Arcarons, who details that they traveled there with a van filled with 150 kilos of Ripollès sausage, 400 hamburgers, 90 kilos of minced meat and 150 kilos of macaroni, to distribute lunches. They also brought escudella and meatballs for dinners.

All of this food was cooked on the street, under tents and with an improvised kitchen. In total, they estimate that they distributed 3,500 hot meals among the residents of Paiporta. The initiative was also possible thanks to the collaboration through donations from companies in the region. “It was a tough experience, but incredible to be able to help them and offer them a hot dish, after days of eating cold food,” says Arcarons, who assures that he was “touched” and left with the idea of ??returning before Christmas.

‘From Ripoll to Paiporta, a nougat at every door’

This is where the idea of ??collecting nougat to deliver to Paiporta came from. “We promoted the campaign through the social networks of our restaurants and also in the establishments,” explains Arcarons, who says that “immediately, people started bringing nougat.” Once they had the 2,524 nougats that they were able to give away, they asked people in the town for help in wrapping them. In addition, they attached personalized cards made by students from the Salesians school in Ripoll.

Once everything was ready, they set off again in a van to Paiporta to distribute the gifts door to door. “If I had known it would go so well, I would have done a campaign throughout Catalonia so that all the homes affected by the disaster could receive a nougat,” says the restaurateur from Ripoll, who says that “it was very nice.” “Some of those who received it have sent messages to the Ripoll City Council to thank them for the gesture and, even, contact has been established between families who have received nougats and families who have participated in the initiative to be able to get them to them,” he reports.

In addition to this campaign that they called ‘From Ripoll to Paiporta, a nougat at every door’, Josep Arcarons and Georgina Valls are hosting a family in Ripoll these days around the Three Kings festival that they met on their first trip to Piporta. “She is a woman who helped us cook every day we were there and we wanted to thank her by inviting her to spend a few days here in Ripollès now that it is Christmas”, they detail.

With these initiatives already completed, the restaurateurs are starting to think about what else they can do to continue putting their bit of sand in helping those affected by the disaster in the Valencian Community. “We don’t know what we will do yet, but we want to carry out a third initiative and, if possible, do it throughout the Valencian Community”, concludes Arcarons.