Pakistan Caritas workers add to funds with own wages to help Christmas charity

(Dec. 27, 2012) In Pakistan, several organizations said they had difficulties and disappointments in their charitable fund raising efforts for Christmas. Mitchell’s Fruit Farms, the oldest food company in Pakistan, makes regular donations to the poor at Christmas but this year the idea was almost dropped because of rising operation costs, said Anzar Hameed, the company’s head of sales. However, the company managed to supply food items worth 25,000 rupees (US$256) to Catholic widows at Sacred Heart Cathedral last Sunday, he added.
At Caritas Pakistan Lahore, the staff donated two percent of their monthly salary after a poor response to their World Food Day campaign. “The activity of handing over money boxes to students ran for about three months. We focused on Church schools where children usually belong to well-to-do families,” said Caritas manager Anila Gill. “But the return from two major institutions was only US$15.”By supplementing the fund with their own two percent salary donations, Caritas was able to bring some cheer to 30 poverty stricken brickmakers’ families, who were given toys and sweets for Christmas.