The Red Cross in 2023 in pictures
What did our aid operations look like during this year? We helped people facing crises and disasters and took care of those in the most vulnerable positions.
A huge thank you to all volunteers, donors, employees, partners and friends of the Red Cross! Now is a great time to look back and see what we achieved together.
We continued our work to help people affected by the Ukrainian crisis. Help is still sorely needed, and the need will continue for a long time.
In 2023, we continued to support the Ukrainian health care system, as well as the cash donations that help the people in most vulnerable positions.
We also helped families fleeing from Ukraine to Finland by offering food aid and mental support, for example.
The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement has offered a wide range of help to millions of people suffering from the Ukrainian crisis, for example by fulfilling the basic needs of more than 15 million people.
In Finland, thousands of volunteer friend visitors brightened up the daily lives of people suffering from loneliness.
During the year, we organised about 10,000 hours of training and exercises for our volunteers to ensure that we are prepared to help in any exceptional conditions in Finland, quickly and efficiently.
South and East African regions are suffering from severe, prolonged food security crisis. Extreme weather conditions, such as both droughts and floods, strengthened further by climate change, have damaged the harvest season and made cattle breeding more challenging.
We helped out in Eswatini, for example, by improving food security and preventing epidemic risks. In Somalia, we supported both permanent and mobile health clinics, which offer basic health care, vaccinations and screening for malnutrition and increase awareness on healthy foods and diet.
A large non-governmental organisation such as the Red Cross must also be managed so that it can help others. Hundreds of our happy members came together in June in Joensuu. The general meeting, called together every three years, is the highest decision-making body of our organisation.
Our aid worker Johanna Arvo met with people who had suffered in the earthquake in Syria and helped assess the level of destruction. She also met with baby Huda’s family, who received help from the Syrian Red Crescent Society.
We distributed food to tens of thousands of people in Finland. Last year, we tripled the number of volunteers distributing food aid, so there were many helping hands available to distribute food this year.
Our on-duty volunteers were involved in hundreds of events all across Finland. They offered the event audience many kinds of support, such as first aid and information about health and safety.
Our logistics centre in Tampere worked hard on the many different equipment deliveries. Over the year, we sent material aid to different regions, such as the earthquake areas in Turkey and Morocco.
The Hunger Day collection was held during sunny days in September. We are collecting funds for the Disaster Relief Fund to be able to help people in need also in future years.
Preparing for various exceptional situations is part of the Red Cross’s preparedness. Towards the end of the year, the Finnish Border Guard asked the Red Cross for support to secure people’s basic needs at the eastern border.
Together with the Mannerheim League for Child Welfare, we organised the Good Holiday Spirit collection now for the 27th time. The donated funds were used to buy a €70 food voucher for 22,000 low-income families with children for buying festive food for their Christmas table.
... And this was of course just a small look at the year of the Red Cross! Learn more about what we do on this website and by following our social media channels on Facebook, X, Instagram or LinkedIn.
Helping will continue in 2024. Join us as a volunteer or member or help by donating. Thank you!
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