The 5th Caritas Christmas Day lunch for those who would otherwise be spending the holiday alone will this year be held at the Curia in Floriana.
The lunch has become an annual event where the homeless, as well as those who have no family with whom to spend Christmas Day, can enjoy the morning and part of the afternoon meeting people and having a good lunch.
Loneliness – which is most often overlooked – affects people from all walks of life, Caritas Director Anthony Gatt told The Malta Independent on Sunday. He explained that, while some people might feel too shy or ashamed to join in, this is beginning to change. “There is nothing to be ashamed of: don’t spend Christmas alone.”
Mr Gatt said that a campaign had been held last year, in conjunction with the University of Malta, to raise awareness of loneliness and help reduce the stigma.
Some 550 people, including volunteers, attended last year’s Christmas Day lunch, and the number is increasing year-on-year. He said that he ended up not eating much last year: “I had so many genuine encounters with people that I just kept talking.”
Asked about the people who came to the lunch last year, he said that there were quite a few elderly people but also single parents with their children. “I remember one elderly couple who had had part of the roof of their flat collapse. They were living in a night shelter and so weren’t able to stay there during the day. They came here for Christmas lunch and to meet people.
“There was a single parent with two children who had been to the lunch the year before and who came back the next year as volunteers because they had been so touched by the event. A young man told me about the loss of his father a few months earlier. He couldn’t face Christmas alone and volunteered to help at the lunch. He helped by accompanying elderly people and felt that his father would have been proud of him for making such a gesture.”
While on the topic of volunteers, Mr Gatt explained that this year they did not even have to issue a call for help because so many people had offered beforehand.
Caritas also has a specific counselling and social-work unit to follow-up with people who ask for help, he said.
The menu for this year’s Christmas Lunch will include soup, chicken stew, a traditional Christmas dessert and fruit, as well as chocolates.
Anyone who would otherwise be spending the holiday alone, and would like to join in the Caritas Christmas Day lunch, are asked to please call ahead on 9912-2515, so that Caritas will know how many meals to prepare.
The Caritas Director thanked the Alf Mizzi Foundation for preparing and providing the food, the Archbishop, the President of Malta for providing the deserts, X-tend – the band that will provide entertainment during the festivities – and St Peter’s Foundation, as well as all the other benefactors.