Student creates project to collect and donate World Cup stickers

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The mania of collecting stickers from the World Cup album attracts more and more fans, but the game is not cheap, and not all children have the financial means to participate.

Young student Allan Cohen, 16, became aware of this when he saw an employee who works at his home, driver Wylamy Bezerra, 46, refuse to donate an album from the World Cup in Qatar. The man thanked the offer and argued that he would not be able to buy the figurines for his children to complete the collection.

“He said the price of two packets [R$ 4 cada um, com cinco cromos] is the amount he pays for a liter of milk for his daughter. Between the milk and the figurines, he couldn’t help but buy the milk”, says Allan to Sheet.

Sensitized, the boy saw the situation as an opportunity to practice solidarity and created a project to collect and donate figurines.

“On the same day that I offered him the album, I saw a report about that child from Goiás who designed his own album. boy João Gabriel, eight years old.

The initiative began with an extracurricular project at the school where the young person attends high school, in Barra Funda, west of São Paulo. When he decided to create an Instagram page (@figurinhaparatodos), the boy saw the project go viral on social networks — in his profile, he explains how to receive donations and shows how the deliveries he has already made.

The student began to receive support from famous people, especially football players. Striker Róger Guedes and goalkeeper Carlos Miguel, from Corinthians, midfielder Tchê Tchê, from Botafogo, and midfielder Erick, from Athletico, recorded videos to publicize the project.

“I had no idea it would become such a big thing,” says Allan. “After I created the page, I started to receive a lot of messages. It had a huge impact, and that’s how it started to grow.”

In a short time, about two months of the project, the student has collected 13 thousand stickers and 200 albums. To make the donations, he chose, first, the Children’s Home, in the south zone of the city, and also the Centro Israelita de Apoio Multidisciplinar, in the west zone of São Paulo.

“The next place we’re going to help is General de Gaulle, in Capão Redondo”, promises the student. The young man also says that he usually plays bingo games at institutions to reward children. “It’s because I can’t give the full album to all of them. So this is fairer than me having to choose someone.”

The Cup album has space for 670 stickers. To reach that number, you need to buy at least 134 packets. This is equivalent to an initial investment of R$ 534, not counting the R$ 12 for the album itself, being the simplest version, without hardcover.

When he assembles the kits to make the donations, Allan delivers the album and 670 more stickers, including some repeated ones. “One of the coolest things is trading stickers with other people. So it wouldn’t be funny if I gave a kid a whole album and they just glued it all together,” he says.

From an early age, the student was always encouraged to practice solidarity. He says that his mother, Andrea, is an inspiration to him, as she also does volunteer work.

In addition to the project to collect and donate figurines, the boy followed in his mother’s footsteps and is a volunteer at an NGO, Friendship Circle, which encourages young people to do social actions, such as meeting and creating bonds with children with disabilities.

“I’m going to the house of a boy who has Down syndrome. I’ve always had contact with an institution because my mother is also a volunteer and I used to go with her to festivals. So, I always had this incentive.”

A week after talking to the report, Allan prepared a surprise for the employee who works at his house. He still hadn’t given him a kit with the album and stickers because he was waiting for an opportunity for his eight-year-old daughter to come to his house.

“We were happy, and they were also very happy to know that they inspired this story.”

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