Toledo, October 19, 2023.- The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, through the Spanish Agricultural Guarantee Fund (FEGA), has initiated the second and last phase of the ‘2023 Food Aid Program for the Most Disadvantaged People’, in which the distribution of 597,571.84 kilos of food in the province of Toledo, of the more than 50 million kilos that will be distributed throughout Spain, is planned.
The subdelegate of the Government in Toledo, Carlos Ángel Devia, visited with this reason the facilities of the Red Cross, which is one of the two authorized storage centers in the province, together with the Food Bank, who develop the ‘2023 Program of food aid to the most disadvantaged people’.
Carlos Ángel Devia explained that this year will be the last in which the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food participates in the implementation of the plans of the food aid program for disadvantaged people, since, from 2024, it will be the Ministry of Labor and Social Economy and the Ministry of Social Rights and Agenda 2030, the competent to articulate this model of aid in Spain.
On the other hand, the Government’s deputy delegate has expressed his gratitude for the work carried out by Red Cross volunteers in the province of Toledo both in this food aid program and in other positions under way to help the most disadvantaged groups.
The visit was attended by the provincial vice-president of the Red Cross, Pilar Gómez, and the coordinator of the food distribution program, Miriam Gómez, who reported on the tasks carried out in the distribution center, which has received 284,117.12 kg of food with which they will supply a total of 65 organizations, who will distribute this food aid to a total of 3,523 families, which bring together a total of 10,195 people in the province of Toledo.
Pilar Gómez has informed the subdelegate that the supply to the 65 delivery organizations that correspond to the Red Cross will last approximately three weeks, in which approximately thirty people participate daily.
This second phase of food aid, to which is also added the distribution made by the Food Bank, will benefit a total of 19,898 people in the province of Toledo, with goods worth 1,078,660.26 euros, so the sum reached, after deliveries made last May in the first phase with 247,555.84 kg, valued at 410,102.50 euros, will have reached this year to 845,327.68 kilos in Toledo, for a value of 1,488,762.76 euros.
Food is received at the two authorized Storage and Distribution Centers (CAD) in Toledo, belonging to the Red Cross and the Food Bank, which distribute to the 142 Distribution Organizations (OARs) recognized in the province.
The food purchased is basic in nature, not perishable, easy to transport and storage. In this way, the basket includes rice, cooked chickpeas, cooked beans, canned tuna, sardine canned, meat canned (lean), alimentary paste (spaghetti and noodles), fried tomato, biscuits, vegetable mackerel, canned fruit, soluble cocoa and childish fruit and chicken tarrites.
The program is funded this year in its entirety by the OBJECTIVE-EU recovery and resilience fund, which has been used to increase support for the European Fund for the Most Disadvantaged People (FEAD), in order to address the situation of those who have been affected socially and economically by the COVID-19 crisis.