Since then, about 900 people have joined us and contributed to raise more than 275,000 euros. With these donations, we have been able to support the medical response in Italy and Spain and financed crucial psychological support for the health workers who were in the first line fighting the virus.

At the same time, we have assisted more than 5,000 families coping with the effects of Covid-19 and the lockdown in six countries, providing food and hygiene products as well as psychological support, especially to the elderly (see here for information on the donations).

Now that lockdown measures are being lifted all over Europe, we are starting to see the scars left on our economy and society. Unemployment rate is set to increase to over 9% in Europe, and to as high as 20% in southern Europe. Inequality is on the rise, hitting particularly hard those working on zero-hour contracts and in part-time positions, women and young people, and minorities, while the number of people pushed into poverty is growing everywhere. In this scenario, the risk of a second wave is a threat that we cannot afford. 

This is why we have to concentrate our efforts to fight the social crisis: poverty, access to medical assistance and preventative care and the educational divide are some of the topics on which the fund will concentrate in the following weeks with a particular emphasis on southern and eastern Member States. 

In order to make a real difference we depend on your monthly support and we need more colleagues to join us.  Let’s come together to show solidarity to our fellow Europeans and establish a new, stronger tie between EU staff and the citizens of the Union. 

Bruno Mola (DG REGIO)

Providing vital supplies in Attica

One of the latest donations from the fund was €10,000 to the Food Bank of Greece (Τράπεζα Τροφίμων).
 
The food banks’s Emergency Food Fund programme is providing food packages to 148 non-profit organisations in the Attica region, including care homes for the elderly, organisations supporting people with disabilities, rehabilitation centres, soup kitchens and other organisations supporting vulnerable groups.
 
Our donation of €10,000 amounts to 397.5 food packages. Each package will contain key items: evaporated milk (410 g), olive oil (1 l) oil, tomato paste (410 g,), flour, sugar, a sweet bun, ground coffee (200 g), jam (240 g), lentils (500 g), beans (500 g), long-grain white rice (500 g), medium-grain rice (500 g), macaroni (500 g) and medium-sized orzo (500 g).

Supporting hard-hit rural communities in Romania

A donation of €10,000 was recently made from the fund to Asociația Bunul Samaritean (The Good Samaritan Association), based in Galați County, Romania.
 
Asociația Bunul Samaritean was founded in 2003 when they started a residential home for disabled children in the village of Nicorești, followed by a day centre for children from disadvantaged backgrounds in 2007. The association offers education, organised activities and services such as hot meals and showers to over 300 children in addition to supporting other vulnerable groups with donations of food, clothes, medicine and more.
 
The effects of COVID-10 crisis are felt keenly in the rural communities supported by Bunul Samaritean: farm and hospitality workers have returned from abroad having lost their jobs, many children have been struggling at home without the food and education provided at school having no access to electronic devices to keep up and the staff of the day centre had to be furloughed, which has affected their families, leaving the association to do as much as possible through volunteering efforts.
 
With one half of the €10,000 grant, Bunul Samaritean can reopen their day centre for at least 55 children from disadvantaged families, organising socially-distanced outdoor activities and providing meals, showers, counselling and medical assistance to them. In addition, they will use some of the grant to re-employ their dedicated staff to take care of the children. With the remaining €5,000 they are able to provide two month’s worth of food, toiletries, cleaning supplies and PPE equipment for 200 disabled, elderly and vulnerable families in the community.

If you want to read more about this and other projects your donations are supporting, go to our website.