LAR (Recife Assistance Union)

For many years, the LAR was a strange synthesis of NGO and government program; though it functioned independently, its director was always the Recife’s first lady and its substantial budget came directly from the city. As such, it had large sums of money to serve children, but it also tended to emphasize dependence and charity more than real social change.

With the election of a left wing mayor in 2000, all of this changed. NGOs in the city pressured the government to bring the LAR into the government or to cut it free. By 2002, when Shine a light visited, the LAR was in the process of integration into the city government.

LAR has five shelters for street boys and girls. Shelters are organized by gender, age, and need. Social workers strive to reunite families, but most of the time this is impossible, so the LAR also trains clients to live on their own.

The LAR’s budget allows it to provide food for the families of street children, if these families agree to work on their relations with their children.

Legião Assisencial do Recife
Rua Lourenço de Sá 140-A
Bairro de São José, Recife, PE 50090 540

3428 4611

contacto: Malu, lar@recife.pe.gov.br