We started with 75 girls. In August 1975 Mother Melania arrived the Monastery to help me: she was and she is still an important point of reference both for the girls and the staff. Avoid to “ institutionalize” the Beehive was the aim to achieve. It was necessary for the girls coming from others districts to go back home quite often and those who lived nearby, had to go back home every weekend. I travelled trying to establish the first relations with the Social Services that, at that time, were few especially in the Southern regions of Italy.
In the meanwhile , inside the Beehive, there was a climate of trust and confidence towards the girls. We noticed the first changes in Cascia: the girls used to go out more often in group with their educators, they were at parties and , at the same time, the Beehive became a meeting and amusing place to stay.
Some teachers of secondary school helped the girls in the afternoons. I remember the Maths teacher Mr Sergio Lepri and the Technology teacher Mr Bruno Gargiulo who helped the girls professionally and emotionally.
During these years the idea to“classify” the Beehive as an orphanage was over and it was considered a place that offered help and overcome some needs such as cultural isolation, family difficulty, desertion etc. The beginning of “semi-residential” activity for some girls represented an important starting point, they stay inside the Beehive till 6 pm.