“We have been on the verge of closing”. The parish priest of Sant Antoni, Francesc Xavier Torres Peters, is blunt when indicating that the local Caritas association needs more financial support and volunteers. “A few months ago we were almost at zero. We don’t want to go on like this,” he explains in reference to their economic situation. In fact, two days ago the priest referred to both requests during the solemn mass of Sant Bartomeu, in which he denounced that the contribution by the City Council of Sant Antoni to the organization is insufficient: “Either we have more help or we will have to close”.
Torres claims that the association is working with very few volunteers: “I would like more of them to come. It would be two hours every week to organize the dining room or the warehouse. We are not asking for a great involvement”. He also expresses his concern for those who are available because “they have to do a lot of work and can end up burned out” and points out that the pandemic made “the older or at-risk volunteers stop coming”.
The municipal allocation for Caritas
The director of Caritas Sant Antoni, Antonio Mohedas explains: “Before the pandemic, the City Council gave us 10,000 euros a year and, from that moment on, they raised it to 15,000, which has been maintained until now”. However, he points out that the organization’s annual fixed costs amount to “80,000 euros between the salary of the social worker, rent, electricity and water”.
Mohedas repeats the claim of the parish priest by pointing out that Caritas Sant Antoni needs manpower and not just a greater economic support. In this sense, he comments: “We had many volunteers during the pandemic, but people began to work and not as many come as before”.
The priest recalls that Caritas currently provides assistance to 350 families in Sant Antoni and stresses the usefulness of their work: “At the end of the day, it is the public administrations that have to cover social expenses”. Because of this, he reasons that to collaborate with the organization is to make aid “accessible where public institutions do not reach”. Finally, he concludes: “If the administrations did their job, Caritas would not exist”.
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