Neighbours at the window: rowing against the tide of isolation and hunger in a walnut‑shell filled with music and help

An initiative in a Portuguese neighbourhood started with a serenade to fill people's hearts in the empty hours of lockdown, but subsequently grew in response to the needs of the community and filling the fridges of 600 families. We've collected nearly seven tonnes of food so far, said the founder of the movement, Íñigo Hurtado.

What prompted you to start your project or initiative?

First of all this was not a project but a MOVEMENT which developed spontaneously in the neighbourhood. In all honesty, it started with an instinctive reaction. Almost a way of stopping myself from going crazy. I was born to party, as the song goes...

Looking at what was happening in Italy and Spain, I thought that "giving music" to the neighbours would be a possibility here, too. I tried it out, on my own, completely unabashed, and found that I could "fly" my phone number as far as my neighbour's windows. Little by little we managed to set up a WhatsApp group of around 200 neighbours. We created a daily musical event, at two separate times (2 p.m. and 8 p.m.), coming up with a range of programmes to bring some life to a community that was in lockdown because of this beastly virus...

How has your project been received? Have you obtained any feedback from the people you helped?

We insist on using the word "MOVEMENT". It has been so well-received that we are carrying on with the music, every time there is a lockdown. The parish council then got contacted us with an SOS requesting urgent assistance providing food for the families of Oeiras. We organised an easy and quick way of collecting food on Sundays, in almost 50 nearby buildings, and we are still collecting between 300 and 400 tonnes of food every week. In the meantime, three other associations have also asked us for help. From March 2020 to today, we should already be close to having collected seven tonnes of food for around 600 families.

• Response? Every single day...
• Example? Children, the elderly and people of all ages wait for this "moment musical" to dance near their neighbours. The eternal gratitude of the four associations...

• Anything else? Tears when the fridges are empty, children kneeling down when the food arrives, the silence when they open their mouths only to eat, constant shivering. And the music carries on in the neighbourhood, as do the Sunday collections – more than ever!

How will you use this specific funding to provide further help in the community? Are you already planning any new projects?

For the time being we are planning to continue with the weekly food collections. We are not sure about the music yet... It will depend on the "beastly virus", on my own craziness ... and on the patience of the neighbours... AHAHAHAHAHA!!!

As for funding: the associations we are helping will tell us what they need. We are aiming to provide goods in kind which would otherwise be expensive to buy.

One other use: something for all the neighbours when the "beastly virus" finally allows us to hug and kiss each other!

What advice would you give to other organisations in terms of achieving results with such activities and programmes?

It's difficult to give any advice on how to replicate our MOVEMENT, as it arose in such dramatic and "special" circumstances. But here goes:

• Helping helps
• Much more music in our lives!!!
• And if you should be so lucky as to meet a SOUL with a VIOLIN as a third arm, always fly at their feet...