The Hunger Day street collection yielded 800,000 euros – the collection will continue until the end of October
Approximately 800,000 euros were collected for the Red Cross disaster relief fund during the Hunger Day street collection.
The Hunger Day collection raises uncommitted funds for the Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund. The Hunger Day donations allow the Red Cross to help disaster victims both in Finland and around the world. Plenty of help is currently needed abroad, especially in Haiti and Afghanistan, for example.
“The need for help in Haiti after the earthquake has been immense. Hospitals, homes, schools and roads were destroyed in the earthquake, and many lost loved ones and were injured,” says Director of International Operations at the Finnish Red Cross Tiina Saarikoski.
Saarikoski stresses that each donation to the Disaster Relief Fund is important and will allow for help to reach those in need quickly.
After the earthquake, the Finnish Red Cross first sent aid workers to Haiti, later followed by a field hospital. The hospital is equipped to treat those injured during the earthquake and children and adults that have fallen ill in the middle of the disaster as well as pregnant mothers, women in labour and patients with chronic illnesses.
“With the funds collected on Hunger Day, the Finnish Red Cross is also offering help in Afghanistan, where life is made difficult by poverty, 40 years of war, the shortage of healthcare services, and the impact of both climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic,” Saarikoski says.
Back home, the disaster relief fund is used to maintain preparedness to help in accidents and finding missing people. The Finnish Red Cross supports the authorities in sudden crises. Trained volunteers offer emotional support to those that have experienced a crisis and material support to those that have lost their home in a fire.
There is still time to donate to the Hunger Day collection
The Hunger Day street collection was held last week and volunteers could be seen on streets and various events all over Finland. This year, the methods of donating without using cash, such as mobile payments, became more popular and received praise from passers-by. Face to face meetings were also considered valuable.
“Street collection is an important part of Hunger Day, and it is a low-threshold way of joining in as a volunteer and donating. Hunger Day is an important opportunity to participate in the activities of the Red Cross for many of our volunteers. We would like to offer a warm thank you to everyone who participated in the collection,” says Director of Fundraising Sirpa Solehmainen.
The Hunger Day collection accepts online donations until the end of October.
You can also support the Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund by purchasing the Red Cross ‘chain of aid’ reflector. The reflectors are sold in S Group grocery stores and Tokmanni department stores until the end of the year.
