The Solidarity Harvest of the Le Manzane winery is broadening its horizons. The charity event, now a consolidated tradition every year, is taking an important step beyond the Italian borders to land in Africa for the first time. The proceeds of the 2025 edition, scheduled for Sunday 7 September, will be donated to the construction of a school in Ghana, within the mission “In My Father’s House”, founded by the Combonian missionary Father Giuseppe Rabbiosi, also known as Father Peppino. On Wednesday 7 May, the religious man visited the winery in San Pietro di Feletto, spending an entire day with the Balbinot family. Then, in the afternoon, he met the partners and supporters of the Vendemmia Solidale who, together with the close-knit staff of volunteers, have already started working to best organize the September event.
Last November, the owner of the Le Manzane winery, Ernesto Balbinot, and his daughter Anna, were hosted by Father Peppino in his village and helped donate two minibuses to the mission, which are essential for allowing children to travel between schools and hospitals.
“We saw with our own eyes,” Ernesto and Anna Balbinot explain, “that every donation really reaches where it is needed, contributing concretely to the realization of the works necessary for the daily activities of children and the population. We have come back enriched from this experience. For this reason, we have decided to commit ourselves to financing the construction of a school. If more pressing needs were to emerge, we will still allocate the funds raised where the need is greatest.”
The 2025 Solidarity Harvest Le Manzane broadens its horizons: proceeds to support the construction of a school in Ghana
The mission of Father Giuseppe Rabbiosi, located in the Upper Volta region in southeastern Ghana, works to combat poverty, illiteracy and child labor, offering shelter and education to thousands of children.
In the Abor village-house, the heart of the project, 800 children attend classes every day: 70 are vulnerable residents, 80 live in the structure in a collegiate form, others reach the school on foot or thanks to the transport service provided by the mission. There are approximately 200 schools open so far, of which 160 have been passed under the management of the Ministry of Education of Ghana and 40 are still managed by the mission. In total, over 5,000 children receive an education daily thanks to In My Father’s House.
The Volta region is characterized, in fact, by a high level of poverty with 26.9% of minors between 5 and 17 years of age subjected to child labor, the average age of starting work at 9 years of age and only 76.6% of the population over 15 years of age who can read and write.
“Education is the key to escaping poverty. It is not enough to intervene in the emergency, it is essential to build a sustainable future for the new generations”, explains Father Peppino, underlining how many young people, trained by the mission, are now qualified professionals. In addition to basic education, the mission has activated two professional schools for tailors, electricians and welders.
Now the new project that will be supported by the Vendemmia Solidale collection, an event open to all, a way to be together having fun and doing good, toasting to a better future not only on the hills of Treviso, but also on the other side of the world.
