Las Salinas Lodge No 79 held a lunch last Thursday at the Asturias restaurant, where they celebrated the presentation of 1300euros worth of foodstuffs to Alimentos Soladarios.
The charity, which is situated on C/San Pascual 227 in Torrevieja, runs a ‘soup kitchen’ from which it distributes hot food, all prepared on the premises by a professional chef, to over 300 people a day and almost 2000 every week. It does so with the help of almost 70 volunteers.
The kitchen first opened its doors to needy individuals and families in January 2010, since when it has largely survived on the generosity of the local public. It has received some small council grants in the past but these seem to be diminishing as the funding to all charities is reduced. As such it has become increasingly reliant on donations from public groups and associations.
Past Worshipful Master, John Edwards, said that he had visited the kitchen and seen how it works at first hand. He said that it really was a worthwhile cause and the experience had almost obliged him to adopt it as his annual charity whilst in the chair.
Most pleasingly, the result was in evidence at the lunch when Alimentos Soladarios supporters, Antonio Sanchez and Martina Mazon, formally thanked the Lodge members for their generous donation.
Charity Steward Eddie Davis, who after 12 years with the lodge is moving back to the UK, said that he too was delighted to help in drawing the donations together and that he had been particularly pleased by the generosity of Los Balcones supermarket Dial Prix which, as a gesture of their own solidarity, had increased the value of the 1000euros collected by the Lodge to 1300 euros worth of goods.
John Edwards said that all of the goods, which included over 750 litres of milk, was delivered to Alimentos Soladarios prior to Christmas.
