Benidorm will contribute 106,000 euros to social entities and parishes to reinforce care for people in vulnerable situations

Benidorm City Council is going to deliver 106,000 euros to various parishes and social entities of the city that "are collaborating in the distribution of products from the Food Bank" to meet "the need to offer fresh food to people in vulnerable situations", thus complementing "the action and care carried out by the Department of Social Welfare", directed by Angela Llorca. This has been announced today by the mayor, Toni Pérez, who explained that "next Monday, November 30, the Local Government Board (JGL) will approve the signing of agreements with these social entities."

Toni Pérez recalled that "within the various actions undertaken since March to meet the needs arising from Covid-19, the City Council launched a program of aid in the parishes of Benidorm to expand the radius of care for people in vulnerable situations and complement the action and resources of the Department ”.

Specifically, "between the months of April and June agreements were signed with Cáritas of the different parishes of Benidorm for a global amount of 82,500 euros"; amount to which is added the 106,000 euros that will be made effective in the next few days and that "will be used for the acquisition of non-perishable, fresh, and basic necessities". At this point, he clarified that the usual distribution of food includes "non-perishable products" and therefore this extraordinary contribution is aimed at the purchase of fresh food ".

As detailed by the mayor, "these funds have been modulated according to the considerations transferred by the different parishes and entities", and will be distributed as follows: Red Cross: 30,000 euros; Solidarity Benidorm: 12,000 euros; Cáritas of the parish of San Francisco, 4,000 euros; and 12,000 euros for Caritas of the parishes of Sant Jaume i Santa Ana, El Carmen, Buen Pastor, La Almudena and Virgen del Mar. Between all these entities they serve around 2,400 people.

Toni Pérez stressed that "since the pandemic began, care for people was a priority for this City Council, knowing that the health crisis was going to lead to a social and economic crisis with significant consequences." At this point, the mayor has highlighted "the great task carried out by the Department of Social Welfare", which in the last seven months "only to meet extraordinary needs related to the pandemic, has intended and managed 633,500 euros" between: food vouchers for the acquisition of fresh and / or 1st need products in city supermarkets -100,000 euros-; PEI’s (Individual Economic Benefits) for Covid -250,000 euros-; food delivery service for people at risk during confinement -15,000 euros-; shelter for the homeless -80,000 euros-; and agreements with parishes and social entities for the care of people in vulnerable situations -188,500 euros, including the amount that will be approved on Monday-.

In addition to the actions and aid coordinated by Social Welfare, the mayor also referred to other programs developed by the City Council such as "Menjadors a casa", which involved an investment of 323,400 euros; as well as municipal aid to families, which will reach 2.4 million euros.

In this way, "the City Council has managed and made available to people about 3.5 million euros to meet extraordinary needs related to the pandemic." Of this, “1.4 million euros corresponded to 20% of the municipal surplus that the Government of Spain allowed local entities to allocate to this type of expenditure; while the remaining two million come from own resources of the 2020 budget that have been withdrawn from investments and current spending, or from the generosity of the Neighborhood Council that allocated the money foreseen in the Participatory Budget to social care ”.