Food bank drive amasses 21 million kilos in one weekend
Wednesday, December 2, 2015 @ 12:37 PM
SPAIN'S 55 food banks raced each other this weekend in a bid to hit their joint target of 21 million kilos of edibles by Sunday night.
Over 110,000 volunteers collected donated food in 10,100 supermarkets between Friday and Saturday throughout most of the country, and until Sunday night in Madrid.
The Spanish Federation of Food Banks sent out an appeal for everyone to donate, aiming to keep levels up to the 100 kilos per person per year dished out since the start of the financial crisis.
So far, the Federation has helped a million individuals who could not afford to feed themselves or their families because of redundancy.
Last year's food drive led to 18% of the annual amount given to residents in poverty being collected in just one weekend, although the two previous years saw the well running dry.
Only 75 and 86 kilos per person were collected in 2012 and 2013 respectively, meaning food banks were struggling to keep up with demand.
They aim to be able to reach a distribution level of 115 kilos per person per year, as recommended by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), part of the United Nations.
Read more at thinkSPAIN.com