Christmas of charity: Red Cross helps 1.5 million in need!

Christmas of charity: Red Cross helps 1.5 million in need!

In Austria, numerous families are faced with the challenge of experiencing Christmas without any gifts during Advent. Shocking 1.5 million people are at risk of poverty, and 330,000 live in open poverty. Children who have to do without gifts and are often socially isolated are particularly affected, as the Austrian Red Cross reports. To help these families, a total of 5,000 special Christmas packages are distributed this year, which not only contain basic foods such as pasta and jam, but also hygiene articles and small surprises for the children.

little joy in Advent

The Christmas packages transform hard -fought in bright spots. They are distributed via the 125 output points of the Austria Team Tafel, a project of the Red Cross in cooperation with Hitradio Ö3. These areas are an important point of contact for 470,000 people per year, who can regularly pick up food and other vital goods free of charge. Michael Opriesnig, General Secretary of the Red Cross, explains: "Poverty not only robs people the economic means, but also the perspective on a fulfilled life.

The packages are valuable support for families who often do not know how to cover the costs for meals or heating material. Even if the material value is not high, these small gifts can symbolically cause a lot in the Christmas season. With the output of these packages, the Red Cross shows that solidarity and compassion are counted, especially in difficult times. This also reports, for example, OTS, which indicates the initiative of the AUSTRIA TEAM TEALL TAFEL and underlines the need for such relief actions in our society.

With more than 5,500 tons of food, which are saved and distributed annually by Team Austria Tafel, it can be seen how important such aid programs are. Around 26,000 households are currently registered and receive more than 6,000 volunteers: support inside. Here, too, the value of the community that works together to help the needy.