One year after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Cáritas Diocesana de Albacete takes stock of these 12 months. During this time, after joining the call of Cáritas Internationalis and Cáritas Española, the donations made to help the victims of the war have exceeded 190,000 euros. Specifically, during the past 2022, 190,676.37 euros were collected. This figure includes, on the one hand, the contributions made through the Cáritas account numbers, the Bizum with the number 38357 and the donations made at the headquarters and through the web. The contributions of the Bishopric of Albacete, the parishes of the diocese and the support of partners, donors, companies, entities or schools that through different solidarity actions responded quickly to this humanitarian drama are also added.
The director of Cáritas Albacete, Rosa García, thanked the “great generosity of the population since the start of the war in Ukraine, through financial contributions so that the organization can continue to carry out its humanitarian work and care for the affected population”. . A commendable collaboration, she has said, which demonstrates the enormous solidarity of the Albacete society.
Twelve months after its launch, the Cáritas Española fundraising campaign in favor of Ukraine has managed to raise more than 20 million euros throughout the country, of which 8.3 million have been contributed by the Diocesan Cáritas.
solidarity network
Networking has made it possible over the last year to attend to people both at origin, in transit and at their final destination. In Spain, the action of the Caritas Confederation to welcome and accompany people and families from Ukraine has also been a substantial part of its response to the emergency. Until December last year, the network of diocesan Caritas throughout Spain had served 5,378 Ukrainian people. Another 10,274 had received help indirectly.
Cáritas Diocesana de Albacete has formed part of the ‘Provincial Response Committee for the Ukraine Emergency’, a working group created when the war began to establish coordination mechanisms effectively and efficiently to channel both aid to Ukraine and the reception of the people who came to Albacete. In this committee, Cáritas has worked together with local, provincial and regional administrations, and other social entities such as ACCEM and the Red Cross.
In addition to having a presence in these coordination spaces, Cáritas Albacete has offered, through its parish and inter-parish teams spread throughout the territory, support and advice to refugee families who have arrived in the province fleeing the pain of war, arriving about a hundred people. All this work has been carried out in close coordination with social services.
Most of the aid that has been provided has been related to food and clothing. Both in the parish and inter-parish Caritas, different actions have been carried out to facilitate access to these basic needs, through the Commissaries, vouchers in shops or ‘Wallet Cards’. Support has also been made in regulatory procedures, processing of health cards or in the assignment of social workers by the Social Services. In addition, Spanish classes have been given in towns such as Villarrobledo and La Roda and actions related to orientation or different pre-employment training workshops have been carried out.
The international protection system has assumed the bulk of the demands of individuals and families from Ukraine, whose operation to provide accommodation has been agile and efficient. However, in a subsidiary manner, Cáritas has carried out assistance and reception actions for these people and families.
“Since the beginning of the crisis, Spanish society has relied on the Caritas network to support victims of war. We appreciate once again the enormous solidarity of donors, institutions and companies. Throughout the Confederation we are very aware of the great responsibility that comes with living up to the trust that society places in Cáritas”, explains María Ángeles García, coordinator of the Donors and Relations with Companies team of Cáritas Española.
Cáritas Española has been present in Ukraine since 2010 through various social action projects. “Caritas was in Ukraine before, it is now and it will continue to be there when the conflict and the media attention are over. The funds that we are managing to raise will be invested in this long-distance race run by Cáritas because the reconstruction of the country will require a lot of time and effort”, explains Gómez de Barreda.
