Hope Worldwide Vilnius

Food Bank drive, Nov 27th-28th

2009-12-01T16:41:00.003+02:00

Last weekend of November, as is now a tradition, we participated in a nation-wide Food bank drive.

Thanks to our devoted volunteers & generous shop visitors we managed to collect a record amount of food, worth ca. 22.5 thousand Litas, approx. 6.5 thousand Euros!

The food will be distributed to visitors of our social club for poor elderly & homeless "Old friends' home".

There's something special about doing work which is essentially inspiring & witnessing goodness in other people!

Below are photos of our young & old volunteers inviting supermarket clients to buy & donate food & collecting the donated food

Senior's birthday party, Nov15th

2009-11-17T13:26:00.002+02:00

We held a birthday party celebrating birthdays of those elderly who were born in November.
The oldest of them all was Mrs. Irena, who turned 90!
She is our long-time participant of the Old Friends' Home club & joined us 7 years ago.

Despite her old age & frail health she still enjoys & entertains others by playing her accordion. This time she read her own poem she had written about our Old Friends' Home.

From left to right: Mrs. Irena's husband Petras, her friend Stanislava, Mrs. Irena & volunteer Jurijus

Mrs. Irena & volunteer Jurijus

Children's birthday party, Oct 14th

2009-10-16T14:19:00.001+02:00

International Seniors Day event, Oct4th (1st)

2009-10-13T12:29:00.001+02:00

We held an event for the elderly at Old Friends’ Home on October 4th to commemorate an International Seniors Day (October 1st) Our friend senior ballet dancer Mrs. Gelena Tumilaviciute-Strumskiene gave us a warm dance performance.

A day of fun at the orphanage, Sept 22nd

2009-10-02T13:12:00.000+02:00

Seniors event, Sept 20th

2009-09-23T12:19:00.000+02:00

Our elderly singing songs

Mrs. Monika being congratulated on her 95th (!) birthday

Mrs. Monika receiving flowers on her birthday celebration

Blood drive, July 30th

2009-07-31T10:27:00.004+03:00

What an inspiring experience it is helping the needy together!

Father's Day celebration party at Old Friends' Home, June 7th

2009-06-09T14:57:00.004+03:00

Singer pouring out her heart in romance songs & poetry

Most amazing romance songs' performance in 7 languages.
The elderly were thrilled!

Senior ballet dancer Mrs. Gelena Strumskiene posing with the elderly for a photo shoot after her performance

End-of-school-year party at the Orphanage, May 27th

2009-05-29T13:06:00.002+03:00

Kids making farewell photos before a time of not meeting with volunteers again during their summer holidays

Children playing a two-group motion game "Ali Baba" with volunteers

A kid form orphanage trying a motorcycler helmet of a volunteer.
Suits him just fine ))

The painting of kids' coming summer holidays that they painted as a group.
The biggest (longest) painting they've ever done so far :)

Children love being photographed :)

Kids performance for the Elderly, Old Friends Home, May 17th

2009-05-19T17:01:00.002+03:00

Volunteers' kids once again arranged (by themselves!) a concert & performed it for the elderly.
The good kids presented a wonderful show of songs & poems in Lithuanian, Russian & Italian!

They were so much inspired by the warm reception of the seniors that their concert was spontaneously expanded by some extra singing.

Mother's Day, May 3rd

2009-05-05T20:49:00.001+03:00

Kids of volunteers sang songs & read poems for the elderly to commemorate Mother's Day at Old Friends' Home.
The seniors were overjoyed :)

Felikse, Matas & Rugile got spring flowers after their performance (left to right)

Rugile & Felikse singing a song about Mother (left to right)

Party at the Orphanage, April 22nd

2009-04-25T00:56:00.000+03:00

We had a drawing competition for the kids.

Environment clean up drive Darom2009, April 18th

2009-04-24T17:51:00.002+03:00

Our volunteers took part in a nation-wide environment clean up drive Darom2009.

Pre-Easter Elderly party, April 5th

2009-04-08T08:42:00.000+02:00

Food Bank

2009-03-30T12:43:00.005+02:00

A special Food Bank drive was held March 27th-28th throughout Lithuania due to deteriorating economic conditions which are especially acute for the poor. (The project is organized by the charity "Maisto Bankas", en. "Food Bank".)

Thanks to the help of our 40-strong volunteer group &, of course, generosity of shopping center customers who donated food, we managed to collect food twice as much as last year, November 28th-29th! In monetary terms, it is worth 21 thousand Litas, over 6 thousand Euro.

The food will be distributed to members of Old Friends' Home: poor elderly, etc.

Our volunteer Aurelija giving out leaflets to shop customers & asking them to donate food.
She also invited her pupils from middle school where she teaches English language to help as volunteers. 5 of them joined us.

Volunteers collect the donated food

Our youngest volunteers happily giving out leaflets to shop customers & asking them to donate food

Volunteers quickly posing for a photo in the midst of intensive work of collecting, registering & packaging the donated food

Old Friends' Home 7-year anniversary party

2009-03-26T09:16:00.000+02:00

Our social club Old Friends' Home for poor elderly celebrated its 7 year anniversary, March 22nd.

We want to say a special "thank you" for all those who made it possible for us to have this club. For many elderly coming to Old Friends' Home it is one of a few places where they are welcome, a place worth a name "home".

Seniors' romance & poetry club "Elena" performance to commemorate the anniversary

Our elderly having a meal

Our senior ballet dancer Mrs. Jelena Tumilaviciute performing

Our senior ballet dancer Mrs. Jelena Tumilaviciute together with volunteers' kids after her performance

International Women's Day celebration- Old Friends' Home, March 8th

2009-03-09T10:58:00.007+02:00

A truly inspiring event with music, poetry, ballet dance & flowers for the ladies.

Seniors' spring music party, March 1st

2009-03-03T11:06:00.002+02:00

The long-awaited spring has finally arrived & we joyously welcomed it with accordion music.
Performed by some of our elderly.

Seniors birthday party, Feb22nd

2009-02-27T09:25:00.003+02:00

Do you know what it is like to see people (re)discovering hope in their lives?

This is what one can experience at the Old Friends' Home.

Seniors' poetry & song group "Elena" performance for our elderly, Jan 25th

2009-01-31T14:33:00.001+02:00

Elderly party- drawing games, Jan 18th

2009-01-22T15:19:00.003+02:00

Special Christmas & New Year party for the seniors, Dec28th

2009-01-10T21:30:00.002+02:00

Misha, our long-time participant of the Old Friends Home, singing his famous Italian song "Amore, amore"

Volunteers singing Christmas carols for the elderly

Elderly singing by the Christmas tree

Christmas party at the orphanage, Dec17th

2008-12-20T15:37:00.002+02:00

Food Bank: food drive, Nov 28th-29th

2008-12-02T14:54:00.000+02:00

We participated in an annual nation-wide food drive Food Bank, Nov 28th-29th.

Thanks to our 40-strong volunteers we managed to raise food for over 10 000 Litas, almost 3000 Euro. This is more than twice the value collected ever before!

It was a wonderful experience serving together!

The food will be distributed to our seniors at Old Friends' Home in the form of handouts.

Old Friends' Home, Oct 5th

2008-10-16T09:54:00.001+02:00

Folk dance & music party at Old Friends' Home, Sept 21st

2008-09-25T11:12:00.001+02:00

Party at Old Friends' Home, Sept 7th

2008-09-16T00:25:00.002+02:00

Ms. Anastassia's - our oldest Family member at Old Friends' Home - 94th birthday celebration!

July events

2008-08-03T17:12:00.002+03:00

July 13th we had our old friend – 90 year old poet Jonas Stasaitis - read his satirical poems about the devil & his schemes against the man. Also some of our elderly read their own poems.

The elderly visited a museum of our national writer-poet Vincas Mykolaitis Putinas, July 24th. They learned many interesting things about him & played interesting poetry games.

Throughout all summer we sought to have lots & lots of fruit, berries during the Elderly parties (locally grown strawberries, blackberries from forest, black & red currant).

We had a chance to discuss opportunities of setting up charitable activities with Christians from Tallinn, Tartu & Ryga.

June events

2008-07-05T23:17:00.001+03:00

Our elderly had a theater group come to them, June 8th. “Penguin egg”- a very entertaining & revealing story about a family of young penguins & their egg which did not hatch.

May events

2008-06-01T15:25:00.000+03:00

May 1st our charity volunteers participated in a nation-wide drive to clean up garbage from parks & forests. Many hundreds tons of refuse was collected: paper, glass & plastic bottles, tires, cans, etc.
So nice to toil together- tending for the wonderful planet our God entrusted us with!

May 29th we had a big party for the orphans to celebrate International Children Day. Orphans received presents from our local donor. This was our last event for children before their summer holidays.

April events

2008-04-04T08:23:00.001+02:00

Some photos from our April events for the elderly

Old Friends Home 6th Anniversary, March 16th

2008-03-20T08:42:00.005+02:00

Some glimpses from our anniversary party

Blood drive, March 18th

2008-03-19T09:01:00.002+02:00

Time & again I repeat myself: it's so encouraging & fulfilling to be unified in serving the needy!
You are immediately & totally transformed from self-focused to thinking of others.

Thank you to those who care!

January-February events

2008-03-10T16:54:00.009+02:00

It’s so very encouraging to see volunteers organize various activities for the elderly without being even asked to. This shows that they really care.

Our devoted volunteer from BigBrothers-BigSisters program Ula along with her little friend Lyja organized a quiz game for seniors. All were split into 3 teams. You should have seen them getting enthusiastically involved in the game! They also learned an important lesson of being members of a team, not as independent units fighting for their own interests- what they there so well taught of during Soviet times.

***

On February 17th we had a special party, celebrating Lithuania’s Independence Day & Valentine’s Day. To mark these two festivals we put up a play based on a fairy tale “About a Little Girl”, with all kinds of animals: mice, moles, frogs, a dragon fly, etc. Many volunteers participated. It was fun both for seniors & for us, volunteers. After that every senior received flowers as a little gift.

***

It’s great that volunteers bring their kids to seniors’ & orphan’s events. I believe it’s a great way for them to learn to be loving & caring, sensitive to others’ needs, serving the needy. They help serving a table for elderly, participate in performances, and give a helping hand cleaning up after the parties… What’s more inspiring, the kids enjoy participating in our parties & want to come again!

***

We had a party for volunteers to express our appreciation for the invaluable work they do selflessly serving the elderly & orphans on Feb 3rd.

***

I believe that what we do as a charity is, primarily but not restricted to, serving those in visible & expressed need but also encouraging & inspiring those capable to show mercy & meet these needs ,be it directly serving or providing the necessary means for this. Accordingly, the impact of a charity should be measured.

A look-back at the year 2007

2008-01-19T17:43:00.001+02:00

There were many great events as well as very inspiring developments for us as a charity bringing together those who give & those who are in need of receiving during the last year.

2007 was definitely a year of growing volunteer involvement & devotion.
Especially notable were the last two events: Seniors’ Christmas & New Year parties.

Here’s the scene: the kitchen & the main meeting room are filled with volunteers buzzing around doing innumerable tasks to serve the seniors: packing the gifts, washing fruit, serving tables, making coffee & tea, cleaning, writing greeting cards, reading the Bible, giving out food hand-outs, making photos, shooting photos, doing dishes, talking with seniors… Everyone is busy for there are many things to do. But they are not stressed, no, volunteers are happy & smiling…

I am hard pressed to find proper words to express the feelings of contentment I experienced at these parties. We were united in serving the needy: not our self-interest but others’. Even one’s face begins to look different: shining with joy which overflows from the depths of your heart.

Here are main highlights of the year 2007:

· Changing hearts: volunteers- serving, seniors & orphans- gratitude
· Blood drive – launched this year; there were 3 events totally
· More content-rich events

Seniors
· More seniors served
· More focus to meeting spiritual needs

Orphans
· Growing ties between orphans & volunteers

Naturally, there were also things which were lacking: Need for Greater Seniors’ Self-Help, More Proactive, Less Self-Oriented Attitudes Promotion. These are going to be our focus areas for this year, among others.

We are enthusiastically stepping into 2008. Honestly, I can’t wait to see many other wonderful powerful changes take place in hearts & lives of our seni0rs at Old Friends’ Home & the Orphanage, as well as those around being positively influenced.

Seniors' New Year party, December 30th

2008-01-03T15:02:00.001+02:00

Christmas party at the orphanage, December 19th

2008-01-02T12:41:00.000+02:00

Seniors' Christmas party, December 23rd

2007-12-27T14:14:00.001+02:00

Food Bank

2007-12-05T17:46:00.003+02:00

This year we had an annual Food Bank event on November 23rd - 24th. We were given a supermarket where our volunteers had leaflets to give out to the shoppers & invite them to buy food & donate it to us.
We managed to collect food worth some 2300 Lt (approx. 670 Euro). The food is going to be given out to the seniors.

Unfortunately, though we have our national economy growing rapidly for a successive year, but the gains of it are not shared equally by all. Those dependent on social system, especially the elderly, don’t see their income rise to at least keep pace with soaring prices for food & utilities (gas, electricity).
Because of this it is important for them to get some material support & the food collected comes in very useful.

Old Friends’ Home September-November 2007

2007-12-04T15:29:00.001+02:00

As always we had birthday parties, sang, danced, talked, gave comfort & were comforted, smiled & laughed together, read the Bible, enjoyed concerts, went to theatre…

Though it is nothing new & may outwardly seem a bit dull or of lesser significance but I do believe that inwardly it gave hope & encouragement needed. Words of gratitude & happy faces that I & all volunteers get every time bear witness to its importance.

2007-11-22T11:41:00.000+02:00

Orphanage events October-November in photos

Orphanage opening season party, Sept 12th

2007-09-14T15:55:00.001+02:00

Upside- down worldview is better :)

Devout Lithuanian basketball team fans (during the European basketball championship in Spain)

'This is what we dream of'

SENIORS' opening autumn party: very proactive & fun, Sept 2nd

2007-09-07T11:42:00.001+02:00

93-year-old lady's birthday

Simple human ties building up, volunteer Vaida & elderly woman

Lecture of acupuncture massage- a health self-help to our seniors

Dancing

Dancing once again :)

2007-08-20T11:11:00.000+03:00

Jonas Stašaitis, our elderly poet, reading poetry from his newly published book „Secrets of suffering“ („Kančios paslaptis“) during the seniors' evening, August 19th

We are proud of our volunteers being true servants!

2007-08-06T08:17:00.001+03:00

Young & older helping together: mopping the floor after the seniors party, Aug 5th

Seniors Old Friends' Home: a place to get encouragement & support

2007-07-25T10:57:00.000+03:00

Some photos of what we did during our party July 22nd

Dancing with volunters or just having a good time

Singing

Hearing the God's promise of hope preached & Bible read (by me :) )

Being listened to & receiving attention of a volunter

Blood drive, July 5th

2007-07-14T12:48:00.000+03:00

Vaida, our volunteer, somewhat tense & scared: it's her first time donating blood

2007-07-10T16:15:00.000+03:00

Old Friends’ Home in May & June

There were many wonderful things we did in these two months: went to cinema, enjoyed a classical music concert, partied in a café, listened to a young boy’s piano & flute performance, danced, read poems, sang, celebrated birthdays, had diner together, read the Bible…

Beside to the mentioned on June 3rd we had huge amounts of second-hand clothing to hand out to our elderly. It was arranged by a catholic St. Vincent’s community.

Also we were giving food hand-outs (cereal, flour, sugar, vegetable oil, canned food stuffs, etc.) almost every meeting.

What gladdens my heart is to hear gratitude of our seniors every time. One of our elderly women said: “We’ve been coming to Old Friends Home for 5 years now. We truly feel like family.’ I myself come to realize the importance of a place to gather together for these elderly people. Most of them are in poverty; do not have close ties to society & experience loneliness at the sunset of their lives.

The seniors are not choosy; they thirst for mere attention & care. It’s truly wonderful to be able to approach them not simply with humanly consolation but primarily introduce divine hope available in God. I learnt a lesson of reaching out to them readily & sharing my convictions. & most of those I have talked to deeply respond positively. This is very inspiring for me to witness God’s help for the needy in flesh & soul. I do hope & pray that they say ‘yes’ to God’s calling.

2007-06-08T13:23:00.000+03:00

Orphanage

May 31st we had a special party for the kids at the orphanage- next day, June the 1st, was International Children’s Day.

Aurelija, one of our volunteers, became very good friends with Jolita, an orphan girl aged 14.
With the permission of the orphanage staff Aurelija takes her out of orphanage for a day or so to spend time together. Being a teacher at school she once even took Jolita to a trip along with students from her class.
This kind of friendship between volunteers & orphans is very important for the kids not having any sound guidance in their lives.
I am looking forward to witnessing more & more relationships like this as we build up our ties with the children at the orphanage.

On May 31st we bade ‘good bye’ as the orphans would spend the whole summer camping elsewhere. We will meet again only in September.

2007-05-20T10:07:00.000+03:00

Fun time at the orphange, May 15th

2007-05-08T13:53:00.001+03:00

Piano concert by a teen musician, May 5th

The elderly were delighted!

2007-05-02T13:53:00.000+03:00

Helping the hopless

Natalija Selevic, formerly a professional dancer, now a poor lonely pensioner, has been coming to the Old Friends Home since its inception 5 years ago.

During last couple of years Natalija ran into big debts for utility services due to very small income. Subsequently all the debt administration was passed on to bailiffs who began deducting 50 % from her pension income every month to cover up the debts. This means she is left with a meager sum of 150 Litas (43 Euro) to scrape by for a month. Also, because of debt electricity supply was cut-off in her one-room dormitory- type flat.

A newspaper article about Old Friends’ Home & one of our seniors- Ms. Natalija Selevic (2004)
Poor Natalija suffers a lot emotionally because of her afflictions. Natalija does not have any relatives or friends to get help & support needed. & as she was absent from our club meetings for over a year without us knowing it due to worsened heart problems & long months in hospital we could not help earlier in the process.

Just a few months ago did she happen to show up at one of our parties. Having learned her difficult situation we began seeking ways to help. We went together with Natalija to bailiffs (there are two separate ones handling separate debts) to see what could be done, also to municipal social support centre.

Now she regularly receives food hand-outs from us. Furthermore, we agreed that she would be paid 50 Litas (14 Euro) each time she helps us serve other seniors during our parties. That is a more honorable & beneficial way of enabling her to feel important & useful & have money to pay out debts - “giving the fishing rod, not the fish.”

Furthermore, coming to our meetings she gets the emotional support so vital for her. More than that, it is only necessary to share the Good News of love & hope with Natalija.

It is great to be enabled to stretch out a helping hand to those in hopelessness.

2007-04-24T13:53:00.000+02:00

Children folk dance & music band performance for our seniors, April 22nd

2007-03-20T14:15:00.001+02:00

19.03.2007 - Hope Worldwide Vilnius organised a blood drive

Egidijus, our volunteer of the year 2006, donates blood, smiling. :)

2007-03-20T14:15:00.000+02:00

18.03.2007 - Old Friends Home 5 year anniversary party!

Children's theatre "Sunshine" performance "The scarecrow" for our seniors.

Our 5-year-anniversary cake!

Us - seniors & volunteers - happy & smiling :)

2007-03-09T13:21:00.000+02:00

Party at the Saltiniu orphanage, Mar 6th.

Played volleyball, painted, just had a great time kids & volunteers.

2007-03-08T11:53:00.000+02:00

Photo from our Old Friends' Home lovely romance concert on Mar 4Th.

The seniors were thrilled!

2007-03-02T11:53:00.000+02:00

Our elderly ballet dancer Mrs. Gelena Tumilaviciute Strumskiene gave us a solo performance entitled “Winter” on the 4th of February birthday party.
As always she was very eager & willing to dance at our seniors club.

The other party was to commemorate Lithuania’s Independence Day. Our club’s another devoted artist Ms. Romualda Pranskuniene threw a concert on the occasion.

Mrs. Gelena Tumilaviciute Strumskiene solo ballet performance.

Our seniors themselves.

2007-02-05T13:24:00.000+02:00

January 2007 report

Orphanage

This month we had a party for kids on 23 January. As always we played games, sports & did arts. This time as well as before we taught some new games.

It’s good that I do not have to always be heading the games: having to manage 40 plus Screaming kids makes my throat sore in a matter of minutes.. )

But it is not that the children are bored, they feel so liberated to be with us, instead of having a tight rule of teachers imposed on them. (though I am not implying in any way that they are mistreated by their teachers!) As a matter of fact, one teacher said that the kids seemed very keen & interested in playing with us as opposed to being offered to play without us.

Nonetheless, believe me it is a fantastic time being with the orphans. I have not ever heard any one come to volunteer at our events & go out unmoved & disappointed.

After the games & drawing there were some snacks. Also we give birthday presents to kids born in January.

As most probably you have already noticed we take photos virtually every time we go to the orphanage or organise a party for the seniors. & apart from sending some of them to you or keeping for ourselves, we make numerous copies to distribute to the children/kids: they are so hungry for them!

I feel very inspired after every event for seniors or orphans: my heart is filled with gratitude seeing others being unselfishly & sacrificially involved in the noble cause & evidencing the impact these times have on the children or seniors & hearing their appreciation.

***

Seniors

The first month of this year was a theatre month for our seniors: we went to 2 performances in theatres & had 1 special performance by children. The elderly loved them all, especially one played by kids!

It is nice to see new people coming to our events. Now on average there’s about 55 seniors coming to our parties (less than half – to other events). & the volunteers’ attendance is on the rise as well: approx. 12 persons.

There’s still lots of food supplies left to be given away as food handouts. We distribute it to the seniors once a month.

Here’s our seniors’ event schedule for January:

January 7th – Seniors’ birthday party

January 13th – Outing to Russian Drama Theatre, play „Ana Karenina“

January 14th – Children’s musical theatre performance “Christmas night” + Seniors’ party

January 27th – Outing to National Drama Theatre, play „The Obedient woman“

2006-12-20T18:37:00.000+02:00

Santa visits the Orphans

There was a special atmosphere lingering in the air at the orphanage in the evening of December 19th. It was a Christmas party!

So not only did we play & have fun, but most importantly had a special long-awaited guest: Santa Clause arrived with gifts for the kids. The children were totally thrilled: they swarmed round Santa eagerly trying to win his attention & touch his red velvet cloak & white long beard. Each child got a meaningful gift from Santa: a tiny cactus decorated as a Santa Clause (with a red cap, beard, moustache fixed on it).

The Santa said: “This small plant is for each one of you to take care of; it is like your neighbor to tend for.” And added: “Should you pass this test successfully & after I come next year your cactus would be sound & well, you would be ready to take care of an even “bigger neighbor” - say, a dog puppy…”

Some of those orphans had not seen a Santa “live” before. No surprise they were so exited & happy!
Our Santa was played by a our volunterr from the local christian community. He was a very genuine Santa indeed! Except maybe for jeans he wore which caused some confusion among the little ones..

There were about 40 kids at the party.

2006-12-12T19:01:00.000+02:00

Needy seniors Christmas party

Santa Clause paid a visit not only to the orphans but also to our seniors at the Old Friends' Home. Some elderly ladies got somewhat disappointed after recognizing one of staff members dressed as a Santa, - they, admittedly, were genuinely waiting for a real Santa!

Santa Clause was demanding to the seniors: each senior had to do something – sing a song, read a poem, etc. - to claim his/her gift. Believe me, it was fun!

There were 42 seniors at the Old Friend's Home Christmas party.

In addition to a gift, every senior received a handout of food (collected by our volunteers at the Food Bank in November).

2006-12-05T17:17:00.000+02:00

November 2006 report

Seniors

The chief catholic priest (archbishop) of Lithuania paid a visit to one of our seniors’ parties in November. All of our elderly were completely astounded by this.

Also, this month we had two music bands perform for us: one was general style, the other one- Lithuanian folk music with its own musicians.
There was dancing, songs, poems, games…

It was so fulfilling though not easy to hear one of our elderly women say to another: “These parties of ours is the only thing that keeps me going…”

The other good news is that the spiritual aspect of our activities is not fading out to say the least: not only do we read the Bible during the events, but also have prayers! It is so uncommon in such a predominantly catholic country & especially with elderly people around.

Here’s our seniors’ event schedule for November:
1. November 5th (Sunday) – Seniors’ party
2. November 12th (Sunday) – outing to Organ concert
3. November 13th (Monday) – outing to drama theatre performance
4. November 19th (Sunday) – Seniors’ birthday
5. November 24-25th (Friday-Saturday) – Food Bank

2006-12-03T17:17:00.000+02:00

Orphanage

We had a party at the orphanage two weeks ago (November 14th).
It was so inspiring to evidence ties of friendship developing between us & the children at the orphanage. For example, when we arrived some children were already eagerly waiting for us; & also as we left many asked when we would come visit them next time.

The kids & all of volunteers were completely delighted: the games we played were extremely fun!

2006-11-29T17:17:00.000+02:00

Food Bank

The annual charitable Food Bank campaign was held on November 24th-25th. Hope Worldwide Vilnius was designated one supermarket where we had leaflets to give out to the customers & invite them to buy & donate food for our needy seniors.

The campaign was really successful for us this year: in terms of both number of volunteers attracted & favorable customers’ response to our call for support in the form of food raised & positive reaction.

Totally 31 volunteer participated with us. Majority were from a local Christian community & the seniors themselves, but also some others (e.g., volunteers from Big Brother Big Sister program).

In all we raised food worth 1.300 Euros (last year it was 1 100 Euros).

The food is going to be distributed in the form of food hand-outs to our seniors of the Old Friends' Home as well as some other needy persons.