Red Cross Winter Plan includes round-the-clock shelter, new soup kitchen

Red Cross Winter Plan includes round-the-clock shelter, new soup kitchen

The Red Cross has included round-the-clock shelter for 250 persons and a new soup kitchen in Brussels, under its  Winter Plan, activated on 1 November in the capital and other big cities. The plan will remain in operation until 31 March 2019. Three day shelters have also been organised.

At the Chauffoir in Schaerbeek, the Red Cross offers breakfast and midday soup from 8.30 a.m. to 4.00 p.m. on Monday to Friday, and from 8.30 to 1.30 p.m. on weekends.

In Etterbeek (53 rue général Tombeur), shelter is being provided for eight persons seven days a week.

In Ixelles (10 rue de la Digue), the Red Cross is catering for 30 persons on Mondays and Thursdays from 8.30 a.m. to 6.00 p.m.

The Pierre d'Angle non-profit association, near the Gare du Midi station, opens each evening of the week throughout the year, to accomodate 48 persons. Red Cross volunteers are on hand three days a week between 8.00 p.m. and 10.30 p.m. to offer a sympathetic ear, give advice on where to go to obtain adequate help, and provide care and assistance, including footbaths.

The Red Cross is also scheduled to operate a shelter for 250 persons, financed by the Federal Government from mid-December. Located on Rue de Treves (Quartier Europeen) it will also allow people to remain during the day if necessary.

In addition to the shelters, 10 teams of volunteers will go out each evening, as in summer, to meet homeless people in the streets of Brussels with an additional team on Wednesday evenings at the Parc Maximilien.

Food packages will also be available at the local Red Cross in Forest, Schaerbeek and Woluwe-Saint-Pierre.

An innovation this year is a soup kitchen organised at the Woluwe-Saint-Pierre Centre on Sundays from 2.00 p.m. to 5.00 p.m.

The Red Cross intensifies its activities across-the-bord under its Winter Plan, lasting from 1 November to 31 March. The association offers 41 social grocery stores, 15 soup kitchens and 60,000 food packages each year. Last year it provided 44,000 persons with food aid.

The Brussels Times


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