Poverty in Sardinia increased. And the main cause is Covid, with enormous damage both socially and economically.
This is confirmed by the growing attendance in the Caritas canteen (95 thousand meals from September 2020 to the same month of this year) and the activity of the Diocesan Assistance Center which recorded an increase in users of 43.7%, almost double compared to the previous two years: the people reached through this service are approaching 60 thousand.
These are some of the numbers of the Caritas Dossier, now in its eleventh edition.
A further characteristic of poverty in Sardinia is constituted by the fact that there was one of the highest increases of new poor, estimated at + 51.5%.
"These are numbers that arouse great concern - said the archbishop of Cagliari Giuseppe Baturi - the securities are called into question and this means that we must cling to these needy people: we ask to imagine a future of redemption. And solidarity becomes fundamental" .
Fr Marco Lai from Caritas also reaffirmed the concept: "It is important to work together with the involvement of all the forces of the territory".
But what do these new poor need? First of all basic necessities, and therefore pasta, rice, oil, sugar, but also clothing, drugs, toys, books.
Among the profiles there is a strong increase in single and single women. And users who live alone are growing.
The availability of both work and retirement income is not a guarantee to get out of the poverty line, given that over 25% of users of the Caritas service declare that they have an income that is totally insufficient to support themselves and their own. family.
Many actions to combat poverty put in place by Caritas. From the multi-specialist medical clinic to the Terre Ritrovate project carried out in Gerrei. And again, the interventions in favor of the most fragile people, which always start from constant listening.
The commitment in prison, alongside those entrusted to alternative measures to offer a possibility of redemption; that of the Sant'Ignazio da Laconi anti-usury Foundation against usury and over-indebtedness, a problem further aggravated by the pandemic. Then the new challenge linked to the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan with the families who arrived in Sardinia and were welcomed by the diocesan Caritas.
(Unioneonline / vl)