Our story

A story that began with a boy and a cup of coffee.

Four decades of presence, told without drama or filters. What matters fits in the facts.

Since I was very young, I began to become aware of human suffering; I was among the reality of the poorest and most unprotected. The face of my vocation came through my grandfather Josefito; I felt the need to care for him, look after him, and love him. Daily, I helped him bathe, dress, and eat, and thus the dedication continued for a year and a half until he went to rest.

At the age of seven, I became responsible for 20 Elderly People; I visited them every day at 5:00 a.m., bringing them a coffee that my mom generously prepared for me. I talked to them, tried to entertain them, and thus my desire to do something better for each of them grew.

I began to knock on doors, touch hearts, and God also began to multiply my commitment through generous hands that helped. By then, I had a group of friends with whom I formed a team, The Ángeles Custodios.

Around this same time, the city got to know me a little better; the journalist from the newspaper Vanguardia Liberal, Euclides Ardila, interviewed me and gifted me the name: "THE ANGEL OF THE NORTH," thus he titled his column. After that, other interviews followed, and the French journalist Tony Comití decided to verify the reality of the article published in the documentary “THE LITTLE ANGEL OF COLOMBIA.”

Today, 41 years later, I see a Work made real, a dream that I fully enjoy, and a task that I have not finished. I am certain that when we speak the language of Love, the whole world understands us, and I believe that we come to this world to help because "He who does not live to serve, does not serve to live."

Quiénes somos

Misión

We are a non-profit foundation that provides comprehensive care and attention services for the elderly. We focus on improving their quality of life and well-being through a committed and specialized human talent in the application of good gerontological practices.<br><br>We differentiate ourselves by integrating the child/elderly person bond into our services, which is based on a structured intergenerational relationship model with impactful results in society, becoming a beacon of hope for highly vulnerable communities.

Visión

By 2029, we will be a self-sustaining institution and a national reference in the provision of specialized gerontological services. We will be distinguished by implementing innovative gerontological and technological processes, as a result of professional management that will integrate a group of highly trained professionals committed to promoting the binomial (intergenerational) model that will maximize the satisfaction of the elderly and their families.

Nuestros pilares

Love

Love is the universal feeling. Loving is not just about affinity or chemistry between two people; LOVE is about feeling respect, connection, acceptance, trust, and recognition of the other.

Smile

It is the expression on a person's face that reflects joy, pleasure, or contentment; it is a natural response to a stimulus. It is a fundamental technique for the work we do.

Gaze

It is one of the most important tools of non-verbal communication and the starting point of active listening. It allows us to establish a connection, or not, with the Elderly and others with whom we interact.

Physical Contact

Contact is essential for generating interpersonal relationships. This pillar is vital within our organization to convey to the Elderly that they are not alone and are important members of our society.

Communication

In a general sense, communication is the union, the contact with other beings, and can be defined as the process through which feelings, sensations, emotions, or information are transmitted. Positive verbal communication allows the elderly to respond and participate in activities.

Empathy

It is the ability to perceive, share, and/or interfere with the feelings, thoughts, and emotions of others, based on the recognition of the other as similar, trying to objectively and rationally experience what another individual feels. Empathy refers, among other things, to listening.

Sympathy

The ability to perceive and feel directly, in such a way that one experiences what another person feels emotionally. Sympathy implies affinity, mutual inclination, and kindness. It is the feeling through which we naturally and spontaneously profess an affectionate inclination towards another person, and

Dignity

It is an innate, inviolable, and intangible value and right of the person; it is a fundamental right and the inherent value of being human because it is a rational being that possesses freedom and is capable of creating things. One of our main objectives is to dignify the life of the elderly.

Autonomy

We can conclude that one of the main purposes of the Fundación Albeiro Vargas and Ángeles Custodios is to make the elderly feel that they are autonomous; we will achieve this by putting into practice dignity, sympathy, empathy, communication, physical contact, smile, gaze, and the best and greatest.

Old age is not an illness. What is an illness —and a serious one— is loneliness.

— Albeiro Vargas, founder

Timeline

Milestones that tell four decades of presence.

1978

The First Gesture

On June 7, Albeiro Vargas Romero was born in the city of Bucaramanga.

1983-1987

The Foundation is Born

The approach, friendship, and love for the Elderly begins by carrying out different activities, visits, sharing a cup of coffee, gathering neighborhood friends to join his desire to serve.

1988

First Own House

The newspaper article from Vanguardia Liberal "the Angel of the North" is published, Albeiro Vargas Romero was only 10 years old.

1989

CNN Heroes

With the support of his family, especially his mother Ismenia, the doors of their home were opened to welcome 20 Older Adults.

1991

Volunteer Program

Thanks to the report by French journalist Tony Comití, titled “Le Petit Ange de Colombie”, the French discover the “Angel of Colombia”, from this moment on, friendship and brotherhood with the FRENCH is born.

1992

Pandemic: No Grandparent Alone

The Albeiro Vargas and Ángeles Custodios Corporation is established, thus obtaining legal recognition to offer an official service.

1993

With money from the French Embassy, the House of Memories was acquired in the La Juventud neighborhood of Northern Bucaramanga.

With the support of French citizens, the “el Rincón de Francia” headquarters is born in Bucaramanga, located in the Morrorico neighborhood, and in France, the Foundation “el Rincón de Colombia” is established.

Thirty Years

Due to the number of adults seeking help from the “angel of Colombia,” Albeiro found an abandoned house (motel “Los Pajaritos”).

1997-1998

The most "crazy" dream of love materializes, wanting to negotiate a farm without money, an idea that becomes a reality when receiving the donation of the current headquarters (farm) for the Older Adults in 1998.

2001 -2004

The statutory reform is carried out and the change from Corporation to Foundation is made.

Albeiro writes his story in the book titled El Ángel del norte nacido para amar y servir, where he recounts part of his adventures, a book that is translated into French.

2005-2006

Selected as a social entrepreneur by Ashoka, for his innovative model of promoting the union of two generations, through friendship and sharing among children and adolescents.

The idea of a strategic sustainability unit that allows generating resources for the social work materializes.

2007

The work and construction of Casa Mayor Ruitoque begins.

2008

Graduation ceremony of Albeiro Vargas as a Gerontologist.

2009-2016

Attention begins at Casa Mayor Ruitoque, with an innovative model as the first Gerontological Center in Eastern Colombia.

The care model is replicated with the new headquarters of Casa Mayor Cabecera.

2017-2018

The Northern headquarters was becoming insufficient to attend to the number of older adults on the waiting list, a new dream arises, to build the Bienestar 100 Building.

2019-2021

The COVID-19 pandemic did not limit the assistance, we continued to provide care to the most vulnerable, friends from around the world contributed and we were able to deliver food and assistance.

2022-2024

Albeiro Vargas's participation as a speaker at conferences and congresses has attracted the attention of various professionals; from Spain, Psychologist María José Cid Rodríguez visited and trained in Snoezelen Therapies.

The fourth floor of the Bienestar 100 building is inaugurated. (November 16)

With the demand for the service and the possibility of increasing surpluses for social work, it was possible to create the Casa Mayor Country headquarters, a new service focused on Older Adults with functionality.

2025

Capucine Jacquier, a French nurse and trainer, visits the Foundation to implement the Humanitude methodology through gaze, words, touch, and verticality, training that reached 858 people.

2026

Dreams and craziness continue to motivate the Angel of Colombia, with the desire to expand the installed capacity, the expansion of 9 rooms with capacity for 30 Older Adults begins.

In images

Moments that built the story.

See more historical photos

The academic path

Albeiro not only cares. He also studied to do it better.

Without stopping working at the foundation, Albeiro Vargas studied and graduated as a Gerontologist, formalizing in a degree what he had been practicing with dedication and love for decades: the dignified care of those who age.

An achievement that reflects the spirit of the foundation: never stop learning, never settle for less than the best for the Elderly.

Today

Forty-one years later, the question remains the same: who accompanies today those who accompanied before?

The story doesn't end here, each day is a new opportunity to help, a glance, a hug, a gesture of affection comforts the soul.

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