The NGO Sonrisas Canarias yesterday received 20 tons of non-perishable food from the European Food Aid Fund that will go to families who are at serious risk of social exclusion on the island of Tenerife.
Staple products such as cocoa, rice, pasta, tomato sauce, cans of canned tuna, milk, olive oil, or fruit and vegetable jars for children, which have been transferred from the North Pier of Puerto de Santa Cruz, to the NGO ships, which are located in the Valleseco neighborhood, by military logistics personnel. Specifically, by The Logistics Support Group No. 81 (AALOG81).
A meal, which according to the President of the organization, Luis Febles, to DIARIO DE AVISOS, “will begin to be classified in these days to begin to distribute it, starting next week, to the families who have been previously mentioned, to avoid crowds and risk of contagion. And also taking into account the characteristics and needs of each family. Something for which we have the help of the social services of the municipalities with which we work ”.
It will be “around 3,600 people who will be able to benefit from these foods. About 700 families from 18 municipalities on the island ”. Words by Luis Febles who explained that this merchandise corresponds to the second and last phase of the European aid program for 2021. The first phase of the following program, 2022, will be received “next year, around the month of April or May”.
“Today is a very important day for us because with this meal, families who are at risk of social exclusion, will be able to feed themselves for a period of between two and two and a half months,” said the representative of this NGO, who believes that “These aid are more than necessary because there are many people who are having a bad time, and because now very hard months are coming. November, and December especially, is going to be a very bad month for these families who have few resources and who don’t even have anything to eat. For this reason, from Sonrisas Canarias we have also asked for help, to achieve, as far as possible, that these people can receive and enjoy, like everyone else, some typical Christmas product and that families with children can have, at least, a gift”.
Help that comes when it is most needed. And it is that last August, the more than 40 non-governmental organizations in the capital, which deliver food to the neediest people, did not hide the bad situation they were going through. They claimed that the food they had did not arrive to meet the demands of the families who come to them to eat.
Luis Febles himself commented to DIARIO DE AVISOS that organizations “had to make a living” and resort to donations from private companies in order to get ahead. He explained that in 2020, and compared to the people who attended in 2019, they grew by 44%, which translates into 2,893 families, about 12,400 users. As of August they had received 130 new families.
HELP LA PALMA
A social work carried out by this NGO, Canary smiles, which will turn 21 years of history next February, and which is also dedicated to helping those affected by the Cumbre Vieja volcano, on La Palma. Island to which he has been sending the food and the food received, thanks to the solidarity of the canaries who have turned to the palm trees.
“It is not being easy. We have received a large quantity of clothes, which we have had to sort, with the added difficulty that we are still worried about the COVID-19 virus, to be able to send it, and that it arrives as soon as possible to all those who, one day for another, they have lost everything. And this is possible thanks to volunteers. If it weren’t for them, our help would not reach all those who are having a hard time today. We started as five people and now we are many more, “said Luis Febles, who encourages” to help as much as possible, because the situation these families are going through is very bad. “
