The St Jeanne Antide Foundation is holding the sixth edition of its reverse advent calendar initiative in a bid to collect supplies and make sure families in need are taken care of and are well-fed over Christmas.
The initiative, aimed at families and businesses alike, is fairly simple. Instead of taking a small gift or chocolate from an advent calendar, as one traditionally does, the idea is for people to set up a box in their home or common work area and put one grocery item into it every day for the month of December.
“We encourage individuals, families and even business entities to take part,” Miriam Grech coordinating the initiative, told Times of Malta. “Usually, in an advent calendar you receive instead of give. In the spirit of Christmas, we ask the public to turn the idea around to help people who may find themselves in less-than-ideal situations.”
“We put out a list as a general idea of what we are looking for but, in general, preserve groceries, toiletries and detergents are always welcome,” she continued.
“Last year, we gave out hampers to 168 families and had enough supplies left-over to keep providing food to at-risk people until between April and May.”
“Some people are kind enough to do a whole shop and pass it over to us and we’ve also had initiatives from schools or the scouts and girl guides, which have greatly helped us out.”
A social solidarity charity that provides support services to people in difficult life circumstances, the NGO also does work to combat poverty and social exclusion.
People have until December 20 to get their reverse advent calendars together, after which the items can be dropped off at 51, Ċentru Antida, Triq Ħal Tarxien, Tarxien.
“We also strongly encourage businesses that want to help us out to give us vouchers to places where we can purchase food,” Grech continued. “With the vouchers we were given
last year, we managed to extend a helping hand to parents who were struggling to come up with school lunches for their children. By being able to purchase according to the needs of these families, we were able to make sure that these children went to school with fresh, healthy and nutritious lunches.”
While often overlooked, Grech added that she wanted to remind people to keep toiletries in mind when putting such hampers together.
“Of course, it’s easy to get an extra can of corned beef here and there but toiletries are also important daily needs. People do need to keep themselves, their children and their homes clean as well.”
For more details about the initiative, you can call on 2180 9011, 2767 2367, 7929 7153 or contact Fondazzjoni St Jeanne Antide on Facebook.