Arezzo, 10 June 2024 – Unicoop Firenze shopping vouchers for an amount of 1,065 euros were delivered to San Giovanni Valdarno, vouchers which will soon become food parcels for families in difficulty.
Inflation, high prices of living and loss of families’ purchasing power have increased the food emergency and widened the poverty basin: more and more families are asking for help from associations involved in fighting poverty.
Faced with the needs highlighted by local associations, Unicoop Firenze has strengthened its solidarity commitment with a contribution in shopping vouchers donated to local associations for the purchase of basic necessities which will be delivered to people in need.
The vouchers were delivered by the president of the Coop members section of San Giovanni Valdarno, Carla Bernacchioni, to the Fraternity of the Visitation and to the Caritas Parish of San Lorenzo. “The delivery of Unicoop Firenze vouchers takes place as part of a consolidated relationship between the Coop members section and the organizations that care for the most vulnerable people in the area.
It represents concrete help because the vouchers will soon be transformed into parcels of basic necessities for those who have difficulty doing the shopping every day, but it also represents a sign of closeness to those who find themselves in a situation of hardship, poverty and often loneliness “, says Carla Bernacchioni, president of the Coop members section of San Giovanni Valdarno.
In addition to the shopping vouchers, another important aid is arriving to tackle food poverty: 193 tons of food items were donated on Saturday 18 May in the points of sale during the food collection organized by Fondazione Il Cuore si melt and Unicoop Firenze, with the collaboration of the Coop member sections, of Caritas and of the over 200 associations that the cooperative supports in initiatives to combat the food emergency.
In the San Giovanni Valdarno store, 1,762 kg of products were collected and will be distributed to the neediest families. The first appointment of 2024 with the food collection, carried out in 124 Unicoop Firenze sales points, in the seven Tuscan provinces where the Cooperative operates, confirms the great generosity of the citizens.
A generosity that is more fundamental than ever in the context of the current economic emergency, for the amount of products donated and for the great help, direct and immediate, that it will be able to give to those who are going through a difficult time.
Over two thousand volunteers who dedicated time and effort to the collection on Saturday, to deliver empty bags at the entrance of the supermarkets, pick up the full ones after the checkouts and sort the products into the boxes which are already being distributed to the solidarity centers at this time.
The basic necessities requested and most donated were flour, rice, biscuits, milk, biscuits, peeled tomatoes, meat, tuna and canned legumes, baby food and products for children and personal hygiene.
