FEDAIA's and Equity Point Hostels 's 2012 Christmas Campaign

So that the children aren’t the ones who foot the bill of this crisis, help bring a little magic to this Christmas and collaborate with Equity Point Hostels and FEDAIA.

Did you know that 28% of children in Catalonia are living below the poverty line?

Knowing this, we at Equity Point are determined that each and every child will get their present this year. To this end, we’ve decided to collaborate with FEDAIA (The association of Catalan charitable organizations who work with at-risk children, youth, and families) in their campaign “Don’t make the children foot the bill of this crisis” and bring a little Christmas warmth to all these families.
How you can help:

Pass by one of our locations:

• Equity Point Centric at Passeig de Gràcia 33, Barcelona
• Equity Point Gothic  at Vigatans 6, Barcelona
• Equity Point Girona  at Plaça Catalunya 23, Girona

And participate by making a purchase at one of our Solidarity Supermarkets (food collection points) or you can make a donation through our website.

Help us spread the word to your friends and contacts via email, Facebook, twitter and whatsapp, everything helps!

FEDAIA is an organization which brings together all the charities in Catalonia which fight for the rights of children, youth, and families who face difficult circumstances or homelessness. Formed in 1996, it comprises 85 entities which serve more than 35000 children and 19000 families in the realm of social work, education, work training, and help to families such as residences and family housing shelters, adoptions, foster homes, assisted living, donation points, daycares, open houses and medical care, amongst others.

At this time 28% of children in Catalonia live below the poverty line. There are 243,900 households where all members are unemployed. The number of families who are unable to pay the mortgage or rent, or who cannot afford to eat meat or fresh fish at least once every two days has doubled since 2007.

For more than 2 years FEDAIA has been promoting a campaign called "Don’t let the children foot the bill for the crisis: combating childhood poverty is everybody’s job” which aims to make child welfare the backbone of public policy. Although the crisis has added to the ranks of the poor, the situation is now more serious than ever.  Many who were already living precariously have seen their circumstances worsen dramatically. In the past two years, the number of families who are homeless, live in unsanitary conditions or have had to live in single rooms within an apartment has risen. There are families who have to get by on only the minimum government assistance of 426 euros, and others who have lost all access to this assistance.

The system has not yet established effective mechanisms to address the needs of families, nor to avoid that youth in these circumstances add to the statistics of serious educational difficulty or youth unemployment, which stand at 29% and 52% respectively.

At FEDAIA we believe that through joint effort, we can reduce the strain that the current social and economic situation is putting on families, children, and the young, and guarantee them equal opportunities for the future.
Christmas is a special time, a time for solidarity. Our member organizations and the families they assist are having great difficulty reaching our goal of assuring that all children can enjoy toys and presents. So we ask you to participate in our Christmas Campaign, donating new toys which we will distribute through our member organizations. We are talking about children from age 0 through adolescence and up to age 18. HELP SHARE WITH FEDAIA !