Despite media reports on rampant anti-immigrant attitudes in Lithuania, NGOs have been flooded with donations to provide basic items to over 4,100 people accommodated in Lithuania’s migrant camps, delivering food and clothing items.
Problems arise when not all of the donated items are suitable, and border guards often only give the numbers of migrants that need clothes without providing specific details. Jolita Matulaitytė, head of Catholic charity organization’s Caritas Vilnius Archdiocese branch, notes that there is a shortage of suitable footwear and men’s clothing. Migrants are also in need of bedding. With people living in tents which get damp at night, clothing and bedding cannot dry out, especially on rainy days.
In many cases, migrants lack even some basic hygiene items, such as soap and shampoo.
Caritas uses money donations to buy such items, as very few people donate them. The Maisto Bankas (Food Bank) delivers food products to migrant accommodation centres several times a week. Maisto Bankas has delivered some 40 tonnes of food products to irregular migrants.
News from LRT.lt
