Heikki Hursti’s bread feeds over 1,000 in Helsinki

Summer break in food distribution to poor

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The breadline at the distribution point on Helsinginkatu in Helsinki was unusually long on Wednesday, with slightly more than 1,000 people getting a free bag of groceries.
      The Laupeudentyö (Act of Mercy) organisation run by Veikko and Lahja Hursti was open for the last time on Wednesday before the summer break, which ends on August 12th.
     
Heikki Hursti says that recent months have been unusually busy. The number of people lining up for donated food has been between 850 and 900, up from an average 600 to 700 in previous years.
      Hursti says that he hopes that people can get their lives back in order. He feels that pensions and unemployment benefits should be raised, so that the lines might go down.
      He says that the worsening of the economic situation was seen in the length of the lines.
     
Hursti is grateful for his donors whose contributions have kept their food supplies adequate. Hursti has even been able to deliver food to the distribution points of other organisations.
      “We nevertheless need a summer break. Most of our volunteer workers are pensioners.”
      Heikki Hursti is the son of reknowned humanitarian Veikko Hursti who died in 2005.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Veikko Hursti 1924-2005 (11.5.2005)

Helsingin Sanomat