At the time of the coronavirus pandemic, there was an expansion in the number of users of soup kitchens both in the city on the Neretva and in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), and they are between 7 and 77 years old and include academically educated citizens.
Secretary of the Red Cross of the City of Mostar, Alen Kajtaz mentioned that the needs for food of citizens are much greater than the actual possibilities of soup kitchens of the Red Cross in Mostar.
”We are currently taking care of 393 users of soup kitchens in the Mostar area, with forty of them to whom we assign food items in packages, ” mentioned Alen Kajtaz in an interview with agency Fena.
He noted that the number of people who used to receive food packages every six months has increased and that now they have needs for them every month. Kajtaz stressed that there are no more rules when it comes to the age of soup kitchen users.
”There are no more rules about the population. If we used to have elderly people with more children or children with disabilities, today we also have academically educated people, ie of all ages, from 7 to 77, ” told Kajtaz.
When it comes to the criteria for beneficiaries in a state of social need, they are determined by the centers for social work, responsible at the municipal level for the implementation of legislation providing social protection.
However, both the Red Cross and the soup kitchen have their own autonomy and can accept a certain number of people who do not meet these criteria in any way (low income, many household members, single people without anyone from their family, etc…).
E.Dz.
Source: Avaz