Coronavirus. In an emergency, 1 million and 600 thousand meals were distributed by the hubs
Over 600 tons of food were donated between March and June and 15.800 shopping vouchers for families
Milan, June 23 2020 - Over 600 tons of food were distributed to those most in difficulty during the Coronavirus emergency. This is 1 million 600 thousand equivalent meals, which reached 6 thousand families, plus over 15.800 shopping vouchers.
The experience of the Food Aid Device, coordinated by the Food Policy office within Milano Help, started in mid-March and in the first two weeks had reached 1.900 families for around 7.000 people. Over the months, more than 20.000 people were exceeded (13.000 adults and 7.000 minors) to whom shopping was delivered weekly through the 10 temporary hubs. Each household received around 16 kilos of food including basic products (rice, pasta, purees, biscuits, legumes), extra products (bread, milk, coffee, tea, chocolate) and fresh fruit and vegetables, thanks to the collaboration with Sogemi and the Fruit and Vegetable Wholesalers and Producers Association.
In addition to the Municipality of Milan and its subsidiaries, the Cariplo Foundation, the QuBì Program - The recipe against child poverty, the Italian Red Cross - Milan Committee, the Lombardy Food Bank, Caritas Ambrosiana and Ibva collaborated on the Device project.
“We have reached the moment of closure for the hubs created in emergency and we have resumed work to strengthen the structural ones against food waste - says the Deputy Mayor with responsibility for Food Policy Anna Scavuzzo -. With the one in via Borsieri, in one year, we managed to recover and redistribute 77 tons of food and now we are providing a new one in Lambrate. We are also committed to opening at least two more in the short term, including one at Corvetto, also taking advantage of the experience of recent months. The alliance we have built has provided us with tools that may also be useful in the future."
In April, the Administration also added to the Food Aid Scheme a call for the assignment of shopping vouchers of 300 or 700 euros, depending on the number of members of the family unit. An operation, initially financed with 5,848 million from the State Fund for food aid, to which other resources available from the Municipal Mutual Aid Fund were later added, which to date has allowed the assignment of over 15.800 shopping vouchers. All the grant requests considered eligible during the ranking phase were, over time, accepted and financed. Furthermore, the terms of the tender will be reopened shortly, which will be able to count on approximately 1,9 million residual municipal resources at the end of the ranking.
“With this operation - intervenes the councilor for social and housing policies Gabriele Rabaiotti - we have tried to integrate the operation of the hubs, reaching the people made more vulnerable by the Coronavirus emergency, who have lost their jobs or in any case have suffered a heavy fall of income, and to do it as quickly as possible. Hubs and shopping vouchers are complementary: with the latter we have tried to intercept a new, previously unknown demand, families who, unlike the more traditional poverty targets, have to pay rent or mortgage and therefore bear real estate costs that cannot be postponed or compressible. Now, with the reopening of the terms of the tender, our objective is to further expand the audience of beneficiaries as far as possible".
“We are keen - conclude Scavuzzo and Rabaiotti - to thank the many volunteers who, even independently, with great courage, crossed Milan and its neighborhoods to reach the situations of greatest need and difficulty. This attention and determination contributed to triggering within the Administration the idea of giving strength to an activity that started with the emergency and is now called upon to become a new service for the city".
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Updated: 23/06/2020