O palco dos excluídos: os bastidores e personagens do Albergue Noturno de Bauru

The “Albergue Noturno de Bauru” (Night Shelter of Bauru) is a social assistance entity mantained by the “Centro Espírita Amor e Caridade (CEAC)” in partnership with the “Secretaria do Bem Estar Social (SEBES)”, that aims to temporarily shelter migrants in town and people in homeless situation. Every day, about 50 people look for the Shelter, because of several reasons. Opened in 1951, the entity – the only public service that offers overnight stay in town - surpassed social transformations over the years and never stopped its work. With the opening of its new headquarters in July 2011, it also began to develop a systematic monitoring of some sheltered people, looking for the reintegration of them into the social context. All this work has made the Night Shelter accumulate many stories, especially from those people who have gone through or are still in it. Thus, this paper aims to present, through a non-fiction novel, this scenario, exposing the history and functioning of the Bauru Night Shelter, while exposing the lives of different people who are part of this universe. Through the monitoring of several night shifts, narrated in diary format, it was possible to understand how the service started, the dilemmas involved in their development and how sheltered and volunteers build this reality.