For the 14th year running, the Order of Malta in Lithuania is organizing the Maltesers’ Soup campaign, with the aim of raising funds for the distribution of hot meals to the poor and the provision of care and support to people who live alone or have physical disabilities.

Throughout Lithuania, the Order of Malta takes care of over 2,500 elderly and disabled people. These assistance programmes are funded largely by the soup campaigns that over the years have become a successful and well known imitative attracting donors and supporters.

The Maltesers’ Soup campaign, which kicks off in November and lasts until the end of the year, includes a combination of initiatives starting with the broadcasting on the national television of a series of short clips on the beneficiaries of the care programmes. During this period, the audience can make donations thanks to an agreement the Order of Malta in Lithuania has with telephone companies.

In early December the Order starts distributing hot soups, the national dish, in the main squares of cities and villages throughout the country. Information on the activities for the needy are provided and donations are collected.

In the capital Vilnius a Soup Village is set up in the main square where the companies who are sponsoring the project are invited to join in and cook their own soup or season treats. One of the biggest food supply chains in Lithuania cooks around 50 kg of cakes for this event and provides cakes to other 15 locations in the country. This year the First Lady of the Country Diana Nausėdienė, former President Valdas Adamkus, who is the Patron of the campaign, and the bishop Darius Trijonis participated in the event.

The climax of the campaign is the live 2-hour Gala concert broadcast on the main tv station which this year took place on 15 December. Nearly 120,000 euros were raised during the concert where famous personalities performed intertwining with documentaries depicting the lives of the beneficiaries and of the volunteers of the Order.

This year, the whole campaign has raised so far over 240,000 euros and with just under two weeks to go before the end of the year the figure is bound to grow. Videos are being shared on social media and regional televisions and companies are still donating money for the initiative.