Rimini Meeting Gets Under Way

RIMINI, Italy, AUG. 9, 2012 (Zenit.org).- Preparations for the annual Rimini Meeting began today with the arrival of the first volunteers: 150 youngsters who joined 15 carpenters from Brianza, who have been in Rimini already for several days.

The Meeting for Friendship Among Peoples, sponsored by the Catholic Communion and Liberation Movement in Rimini, Italy, draws hundreds of thousands of participants every year.

In the coming three days, other volunteers will join them who will stay in Rimini until the 17th: to reach the total number of 600, between youngsters and adults. 

Franco Casalboni, who coordinates the volunteers, explained, "The day has a tight rhythm and well-defined schedule. It begins at 8:45 am with Lauds, then there is work from 9:00 am to 1:00 pm, with a lunch break until 2:15 pm. Work begins again until 6:45 pm. And there will be evening shifts from 8:30 pm to 11:00 pm on August 17 and 18."

"Looking at the youngsters working, so many persons, each one with his/her character, provenance, who collaborate freely in a common endeavor, looking at all this, wonder and enormous gratitude well up for the great miracle

that happens every year," concluded Casalboni.