Red Cross to distribute over 3 million kg of food in Catalonia between February and April

Barcelona (CNA).- Between February and April, the Red Cross will distribute a total of 3,161,544 kg of food to 146,269 people affected by the economic crisis in Catalonia. This is an initiative developed of the Food Program of the European Union which reported that there are 2,403 more beneficiaries compared to the last trimester of 2011. After the four phases of the program, the Red Cross will have distributed 9,390,405 kg of food to 146,269 beneficiaries in Catalonia. The amount of distributed food has doubled compared to the program in 2010 while the beneficiaries increased by 12%. People have to apply to receive food. Each person receives 10.5 kg of sugar, cocoa, long-life milk, flour, biscuits and cheese. The first to receive food are children, teenagers, the disabled, elderly people, immigrants and drug addicts.

The Food Program is an annual project of the European Union depending on the Spanish Agricultural Guarantee Fund (FEGA) of the Spanish Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Environment. The project is divided into four distribution phases and, usually, the fourth and last one takes place at the beginning of the following year. That means that between February and April 2012, the last distribution phase of the Food Program 2011 will be carried out. The third phase took place during the last trimester in 2011 and benefited 143,866 people.

All over Spain, the Food Program 2011 of the Red Cross is attending 900,000 people and serving 67,079,766 kg of food, from which 23 million will be distributed during the last phase. The number of beneficiaries increased in 2011 by more than 200,000 people compared to 2010 when the Red Cross gave out food to 700,000 people all over Spain. During the last phase, the amount of distributed food in Catalonia represented 13.75% of the total amount in Spain.

500 volunteers in Catalonia

Over 500 volunteers of the Red Cross cooperate with the Food Program in Catalonia. The humanitarian institution distributes the food to the entities that agree to distribute directly among the beneficiaries. During this fourth phase, up to 478 entities participate in the Food Program of the Red Cross in Catalonia, from which several represent local and regional assemblies of the same institution. In total, 512 volunteers cooperate with this program all over the Catalan territory.