No parties at the table and dinners for almost 3 million Italians, who for Christmas are forced to ask for help to eat, using canteens for the poor or food parcels. This is shown in the analysis of Coldiretti on the 2022 Report of the Fund for the European Aid to the Most Deprived (FEAD). Italy is experiencing an unprecedented social emergency since the last post-war period: the number of children under the age of 15 in need of assistance to eat is over 600,000, practically one fifth of the total number of people assisted; to these are added 337,000 elderly people over the age of 65, and 687,000 foreign migrants. According to Coldiretti, among the new poor there are also those who have lost their jobs, small traders or craftsmen who have had to close down, people employed in commerce who do not benefit from particular subsidies or public aid and have no savings set aside, and many temporary workers or those with activities affected by the measures against the Covid pandemic and the high costs of energy. The majority of those who have been forced to resort to food aid receive food parcels. This measure responds more to the expectations of the new poor who, out of shame, prefer this form of support than the consumption of free meals in charitable structures.
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