The Order’s Embassy in Sofia distributes 100 meals a day to people in need

A recent World Bank study shows that 23% of Bulgaria’s population live below the poverty line, while 41% have had to limit the use of facilities such as heating and electricity and 29% have reduced their food consumption.

Following the Order of Malta’s humanitarian initiatives already running in numerous countries, and in particular those involving soup kitchens, its embassy in Sofia has been handing out 100 hot meals a day since mid-February.  The meals are distributed in the courtyard of the Apostolic Exarchate, seat of the Catholic Episcopal Conference, by a group of volunteers working with the Order’s embassy.

“There has been a long line of people waiting from the very first day of this initiative,” declared the Order of Malta’s ambassador in Sofia, Camillo Zuccoli. “We’re working to provide more people – often the elderly in financial straits – with meals. Hence we’re trying to persuade companies to donate food products with the aim of doubling the number of people we help”.

Over the last five years the Order of Malta’s Embassy in Sofia has performed some 174 humanitarian operations in seventy-seven locations in the country. Medical and specialist equipment, ambulances, medicines, food and other basic necessities have been delivered to hospital, social and educational establishments to support projects for children and for the elderly.