Some things change, other else do not ...

Try to show in this site what “Challenge Association-Asociación Reto” means, seems practically impossible, mainly for people, like me, who have seen its birth and how it becomes what it is today. Just imagine! In that time (1985) we were some young people about 20 years old fighting to improve our past, with no more resources than wishes for changing and our faith in God.

We wanted to build a future of hopes for us and for the whole people wishing to leave the hells of the drug. For those days there were a little resources for drug addiction treatment in Spain. The most of rehabilitation centres were private ones and were very expensive making impossible the admission of people like us with very small incomes from families with not enough economical possibilities. That is the reason to provide a totally free support which becomes the main principle in “RETO”: everyone requesting our help could do it with no money obstacle. So that, the assistance demanded was increasing very fast: hundreds of young people were calling from everywhere in Spain to be helped.

Our first incomes sources were from small works: handing washing cars “Your goodwill” (it becomes the emblem over Santander beaches), scrap iron or cardboard pick up and some other services in exchange for food. Most of us had not any profession; drug had been all our life.

Today, some years later, a lot of things have changed in “RETO”; we know how to help a drug addict, we have reached to be qualified professional people in a wide range of works, we are living in comfortable houses built by our own hands and are able to help whoever they need.

RETO is presently over the all Autonomous Spanish regions and also over some different European, African and American countries. Mostly the young people from the first generation of those times we are still working in RETO on different areas; today we are a little more aged and have white haire, but we are keeping the same enthousiasm like first day.