The City Angels group is an independent, multiethnic, gay-friendly and anti-racist group of street volunteers, founded in 1994 in Milan by Mario Furlan, an Italian journalist, writer and university professor of motivation and personal growth. The group is also present in Rome, Turin, Brescia, Bergamo, Cagliari, Parma, Busto Arsizio, Gallarate, Voghera, Palermo, Monza, Campomarino, Novara, Como, Varese, Genoa, Albenga, Savona, Lecco and Lecce; since 2014, they have also been active in Lugano, Mendrisio and Chiasso, Switzerland. In Milan, the City Angels have twice received the "Ambrogino d'Oro", the city's highest official recognition. In 2008, the Ambrogino was awarded to the honorary City Angel Edward "Eddie" Gardner, a Ghanaian man who risked dying on July 20 of that year after being stabbed, in a racist attack, by three drug dealers shouting "dirty nigger!" because he was trying to convince young people not to take drugs. Activities City Angels are volunteers who assist citizens and homeless in emergency and distress, by helping those who are marginalized: homeless, immigrants, drug addicts and the elderly. They are the only non-profit association in Italy also involved in preventing and fighting street crime, in cooperation with law enforcement agents. In Milan, they run "Casa Silvana", the only home for families open all night and even hosting the homeless animals; and they also run other two shelters for the homeless, one just for men and the other also for women and families. They generally operate in areas with major social problems, which in many cities is usually around the railway stations. They also operate on public transport, to enhance security and to help passengers. The City Angels have been working closely for many years with the institutions, which often contact them to open new chapters. The President of the Republic, Giorgio Napolitano, has received them in his Quirinale office on December 9, 2009, and has complimented them, saying they represent, as volunteers, "the best of Italy". Pope Benedict XVIth has called them "Scouts of the XXIst century". City Angels have always publicly expressed their opposition to vigilante groups. "Vigilantes - Mario Furlan explains - are in search of the enemy. We are in search of people to help." Among City Angel activities are: help the homeless, by distributing food, clothes, blankets and sleeping bags, accompanying them in shelters and huddle with them a relationship of friendship and trust help drug addicts and alcoholics, directing them toward a