Massive ‘Gran Recapte’ food drive kicks off with record volunteer participation

As the weather gets cold every year, helping those in need becomes more urgent than ever. Indeed, two initiatives have been put forth to do just that: the massive Gran Recapte food drive throughout the country, and a new Red Cross mental health program to help those on the street, in the northern Catalan town of Girona.

‘Gran Recapte’ aims to hit last year’s 4,300 tons of food

Catalonia’s holiday food drive, the Gran Recapte, kicked off early today with a record 27,000 volunteers. It began right as markets and supermarkets opened their doors to shoppers, with 2,700 drop-off points throughout the country. The initiative aims to hit last year’s numbers, when 4,300 tons of food was collected, with 1.5 million people donated food to 210,000 beneficiaries. 

“We want to help those in need. We bought some milk. It’s not enough, but little by little the pile gets bigger,” said Rosa and Jose, who went food shopping this Friday at the Marina Market in Barcelona. The items that are most useful to the Food Bank are oil, milk, and canned vegetables and fish, as they have a long shelf life and offer basic, much-needed nutrients.