Appeal for basic food items for refugees

Humanitarian organisation Caritas Cyprus has issued an appeal for donations of food from Wednesday through Friday, so that refugees in need can have the basics ahead of the Christmas period.

“We are witnessing great difficulties and suffering of a number of refugees who are entitled to government support but do not receive it since October for different reasons (mainly due to delays in receipt of payments and because the banks refuse to open accounts for them and they cannot cash government checks),” the group said in an email to the Cyprus Mail.

“Young women and single mothers with children are in a particularly difficult position.”

Caritas offers accommodation and rent assistance to a number of the suffering migrants with rent, as well as some basic food, but the task grows more challenging as demand grows.

The organisation is asking for the following items: rice, pasta, tomato paste, sauces, Maggi cubes, canned tuna, canned chicken, eggs, fresh vegetables and fruit.

Donations can be brought to Caritas Cyprus’ office, in the building of the Holy Cross Catholic Church, between 9am and 1pm Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday.

For further information, Caritas can be contacted at 97787830.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.