– When the rent is paid, I am left with NOK 3,000. It is almost impossible to live for. That’s why the food here is very important to me.
Rich Hoang is a student and one of many who eat at the Swedish Public Administration in the center of Stavanger. In addition to eating here, he also contributes as a volunteer.
Three days a week, they serve free dinner to those between the ages of 13 and 25 who come. They also offer packed lunches and breakfast.
Dinner is served at 17.30, and then the guests sit around a long table to also get to know each other and talk to each other.
Photo: Åse Karin Hansen / NRK
And there are more and more coming.
In January, around ten young people used the offer in Stavanger each time. Now it has increased to nearly 60.
The Red Cross sees the same increase in all the 17 cities where they have the Swedish Public Administration.
A young person, who wishes to remain anonymous, has had breakfast at the Public Administration in Haugesund.
Photo: Simon Elias Bogen / NRK
More than 100,000 visitors
In total, they had 88,000 visitors throughout last year. So far this year, over 100,000 have visited.
According to the Red Cross, this is connected to the fact that there are more young people with poor income.
In examination from the OECD shows that poverty among young people is increasing, while there are fewer poor elderly people. 13 per cent of young people between the ages of 18 and 25 are considered poor in the OECD. In Norway, the figure is 26 percent.
– For some, the meal they get here is the only meal that day. Those who previously had little have even less now that prices have increased, says Vilja Mundheim, advisor for youth in Stavanger Red Cross.
Mads Gimre often stops by the Public Administration in Haugesund to pick up breakfast before the start of the study day.
Photo: Simon Elias Bogen / NRK
When NRK visits the Federal Agency in Haugesund and Stavanger, there is a mix of young people who come. Everything from refugees to young people who have not needed help before, but say they need it now.
Some are also there because of the social aspect.
– This is a very good scheme, because we students don’t have much money. It’s also very social, says Mads Gimre, who collects packed lunches in Haugesund.
A meal for the day
– It is stupid that the need for free food exists. It would have been best if everyone came from a furnished home, but that’s not the case, says Kim Tollefsen.
He and Odin Sandahl-Hanssen are volunteers, and now make close to 200 portions of dinner a week in Stavanger. Everything is eaten.
What is left over from the dinners, the young people can take home. Everything tends to disappear, says Kim Tollefsen.
Photo: Åse Karin Hansen / NRK
– Food spreads love. It sounds a bit silly, but I know that many young people appreciate what Kim and I do. Many come again, and then they have a slightly wider smile when they see us, says Odin Sandahl-Hanssen.
– Food is social, and a great way to show that you care about others, says volunteer chef Odin Sandahl-Hanssen.
Photo: Åse Karin Hansen / NRK
Poor young people are increasing in Norway
Head of the OECD’s social policy department, Monika Queisser, says the poverty among young people in Norway is partly due to the fact that young people here move away from home earlier than in many other countries.
But she says that over the course of 40 years it has increased from very low numbers to today’s numbers.
There is also an increase in young people who say they have too little money to buy food. In 2018/2019 the figure was 14 per cent, while in 2021/2022 it had increased to 17 per cent in the age group 15 to 29 years, according to the OECD.
Another survey from Fafo shows that many food distribution centers in Norway are struggling to provide enough help.
Would prefer not to stand in line for food bags
– We have seen an enormous increase in the last year. The young people tell us that it’s good to come to the Red Cross, because then they don’t have to queue for those who hand out food bags. Because there everyone sees what they are looking for, says Haugesund Red Cross chairman Paul Eggen.
But it costs money to make packed lunches and breakfast for close to 80 young people three days a week.
This autumn, the offer in Haugesund was saved with the help of a splicing action which brought in over NOK 300,000. Also a collection in connection with football match FKH-Brann received around NOK 60,000.
This is Ukrainian borscht or beetroot soup. A dish that was created after Ukrainian youths were asked what they would like for dinner.
Photo: Åse Karin Hansen / NRK
– The state should contribute an emergency package to voluntary organizations that we can spend on food for those who need it. We have limited funds, but enough customers so to speak, says Eggen.
The government has no plans for an emergency package, but is giving extra millions to non-profit organizations and religious communities before Christmas.
– We have also given more money to the pot which will go to affordable or free activity offers for children and young people. This year, Fellesverken received NOK 9 million from this scheme, says Minister for Children and Families Kjersti Toppe.
– If I had lived very sparingly, I could get by on NOK 500 a week for food. So it helps the food budget well to have dinner here, says Rich Hoang.
Photo: Åse Karin Hansen / NRK
Gets some money, but not enough
In Stavanger, large parts of the budget now go to food instead of activities.
The Red Cross applies for money wherever they can. They have applied for a total of NOK one million from the municipality. The municipal director had set his sights on NOK 50,000, but the majority parties have insisted that they get what they have applied for.
– It is fantastic that we are getting what we have applied for. That means we can offer the same offer next year as well, says Stavanger Red Cross chairman Turid Myhra.
Rich Hoang and his student friends have calculated whether they could do without a free dinner at the Red Cross.
– We could manage, but then we had to live very sparingly. I generally eat very little, but when I’m here I eat a lot.
2023-12-11 21:54:28
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