Eastern Costa del Sol food bank marks two-year anniversary

Representatives from local Spanish charities and organisations run by the foreign community in the Axarquía attended a coffee morning to mark the second anniversary of Lux Mundi’s Food Drive at the ecumenical centre in Torre del Mar on the eastern Costa del Sol on Monday 10 November.

Volunteers from Lux Mundi. Cáritas, Torre del Mar’s Rocio Holy Week brotherhood, the Alcaucín Community Association (ACA) and St Barnabas Anglican Church, among others attended the event.

Lux Mundi president Gloria Uribe and representatives from Cáritas highlighted the importance of the monthly food collection, which they explained helps over 30 families in the Torre del Mar area. “To achieve this, we need to collect donations of items or money totalling approximately 1,190 euros per month,” they explained, in English and Spanish.

They went on to explain that Cáritas interviews the families and decides “who needs our help” each month. The number of people that they are helping “has increased” this year “due to the local and global situation”, they said.

Cáritas prioritises families with children and explained that many of the families they help are immigrants who are waiting to obtain permits to work, or people in work whose salaries don’t allow them to cover all of the monthly expenses. “There are people who are working but the salaries are not enough. The rents in Torre del Mar are going up and up, as is the cost of food,” they said.

Cáritas and Lux Mundi thanked the local companies that support the Food Drive before attendees shared coffee and cake and participated in a quiz with questions in English and Spanish.

Donations for the Food Drive can be taken to the Lux Mundi Centre or made via Bizum (look for NGO and ‘donate to a worthy cause’) using the code: 07388 and stating ‘food drive’. Food donations may include milk, dried lentils, tinned tuna, coffee, pasta, biscuits, rice, sunflower oil, dried chickpeas, breakfast cereal, chocolate milk powder and sugar.