Contagion of Hope: food support project of the Waldensian Diaconate

The activities aimed at the most vulnerable people, in the region most affected by the pandemic, Lombardy, put in place by the ecclesiastical body that collects, connects and coordinates social activity and manages assistance and reception facilities of the Waldensian Church.

Rome (NEV), November 13, 2020 – The Waldensian Diaconate – CSD participates as a partner in the project “Contagion of Hope: serving the poor and vulnerable people in Lombardy during the COVID-19 emergency”.
The project is managed by the Catholic Relief Services and the Caritas Ambrosiana thanks to funding from the United States Agency for International Development and sees the involvement of seventeen of the associations and charities operating in the epicenter of the worst COVID-19 epidemic in Italy, in the Lombardy region. “The measures adopted to deal with the health emergency – reads a note on the Diaconate website – have had heavy repercussions on the poorest and most marginalized inhabitants of the region, causing an increase in the demand for food, housing and economic assistance to the religious organizations present in Lombardy”.
The project, therefore, “intends to respond to these critical issues by developing actions and interventions aimed at supporting the emergency reception capacity of hospitals, providing safe and adequate shelters and hygienic facilities and providing essential food and basic necessities to individuals who find themselves in particularly difficult conditions”.
The Waldensian Diaconate – CSD, “in close collaboration with the Waldensian Church of Milan, the Methodist Church of Milan and the Waldensian Church of Bergamo, is conducting the purchase and the distribution of food and shopping vouchers to support the communities of Milan, Bergamo and Como. In addition to organizing free-access distribution points, where people can go to receive food vouchers of different value, a system of remotely rechargeable prepaid cards has been put into operation that people keep for the duration of the project, obtaining a simple, quick, and safe access to the support and avoiding travel to reach the place of distribution. From September 2020 to date, food vouchers have been distributed for a total value of 18,000 euros which have helped to support more than 100 families and over 70 individuals”.