Visitors to the day reception centre for homeless people and other vulnerable groups, Café Anoniem in Hasselt (Limburg Province), have been treated to a special festive end of year meal. The meal was paid for by funds collected by youngsters from Arktos Limburg, an organisation that works with children and young people aged up to 25 that come from difficult or disadvantaged backgrounds or that are living with a handicap. The youngsters also prepared the meal.
Today is New Year’s Eve and many of us will be enjoying festive fayre with family and friends. However, not everyone is so lucky and for some New Year’s Eve will be like every other day. In Hasselt at least the least fortunate members of our society have been able to enjoy a meal they won’t forget in a long time.
Salvatore Lampariello of Café Anoniem told VRT News that “First the youngsters raised money that they used to buy the ingredients and they will be cooking the meal themselves”.
Not only today (New Year’s Eve) will visitors be treated to a festive meal, but they will also be able to enjoy a special New Year’s breakfast tomorrow morning. 30 to 40 people eat at Café Anoniem each day
The youngsters’ efforts mean an awful lot to those that visit Café Anoniem each day.
“Each day between 30 and 40 people come here. However, the list of those that come here occasionally is much longer. Certainly, with the new crisis we are registering additional homeless people every day”, Salvatore Lampariello told VRT News.
The doors to the centre opened at 9:30am sharp.
"Until 1pm only homeless people are allowed in. After 1pm people that do have a roof over their head are welcome as well because they too can have issues making ends meet”.
Great success
Salvatore Lampariello “Last year it was a great success. We even had money left over that we were able to use to buy a few extras such as hair dressing material”, Salvatore Lampariello said.
This year Arktos raised 1,200 for the festive meal. "What is left over once the ingredients have been paid for will be paid into the account we use for donations. We will use it to buy other things”, Mr Lampariello said.