Lidl Cyprus collected €40,000 to be handed over to the Cyprus Red Cross Society (CRCS) to bolster its Emergency Service, which provides hands-on support to elderly and vulnerable people disproportionately affected by the coronavirus outbreak.
For just over six weeks, Lidl Cyprus set aside a portion of earnings from the sale of Favorina products, a selection of sweets, chocolate and baked goods available in Lidl stores only during the Christmas and Easter periods.
Specifically, €0.30 from the sale of each Favorina candy egg, chocolate bunny, crème-filled truffle and more bought by consumers in any of the 17 Lidl stores on the island was donated to the CRCS’ humanitarian project aiming to cushion the blow of the coronavirus outbreak.
Responding to these unprecedented times, which have left many without an income and other vulnerable groups locked indoors, the CRCS, a humanitarian, volunteer-based organisation that has supported Cyprus society since first becoming active on the island in 1950, moved to complement government support measures by providing hands-on assistance to the needy.
Through the Emergency Service food, essential goods and medicine are delivered by CRCS volunteers to the homes of the elderly and vulnerable who have no support network to assist them.
Recognising that the pandemic affects all of the island’s inhabitants, CRCS extended its support programme to cover the food needs of refugees at the Emergency Reception Centre in Kokkinotrimithia and the Kofinou Reception Centre for Refugees and Asylum Seekers.
Though it has often been said that the virus does not discriminate on how it has altered our daily lives, it has nevertheless highlighted pre-existing inequalities and vulnerabilities, and brought a steep increase in the number of people requiring support.
The CRCS programme, which will receive Lidl Cyprus’ financial donation of €40,000, also includes the dissemination of relevant informational material across Cyprus.
Lidl Cyprus and the CRCS, which have enjoyed a steady collaboration since 2016, have stepped up to the challenge in more ways than one.
Rising to meet the increased needs brought about by the coronavirus, Lidl Cyprus also donated €5,000 of products to be included in the Love Packages distributed every year during the Easter period by the CRCS.
Additionally, through separate initiatives, both the CRCS and Lidl Cyprus rose to the challenge posed by the waves of legal residents of Cyprus being repatriated from abroad, and responded to the call issued by the Volunteering Commissioner Yiannis Yiannakis for assistance in covering the needs of returnees required to spend a two-week quarantine period in hotels upon returning to the island.
For its part, Lidl Cyprus donated individual packages containing cleaning products, personal hygeine products and snacks for quarantined returnees.
