December 14, 2019 – The nineteenth edition of the humanitarian action “A di si ti?!” was held today at Gaje Bulata Square in front of HNK Split.
Splitski Dnevnik reports that this action, which was born 19 years ago as an idea to encourage volunteerism, has grown beyond itself and became a clear indicator of how much the people of Split are willing to help. At the same time, homelessness is in focus as a social phenomenon, making it clear that this is not a problem that should be pushed under the rug, but something that can happen to anyone today.
“A di si ti?!” brought together 75 organizations, institutions, schools, citizens, and more than 500 volunteers who helped throughout the action. “A di si ti?!” started back in 2000 on the Riva, said Most Vice President Dado Lelas. However, it never occurred to them that things would grow as they did, and that it would expand so much that the space in front of HNK became too small.
“Although we have had numerous donations and actions throughout December, which have grown more and more each year, we always wanted to do something on the street, but raising money has never been a primary goal. I cannot say that money isn’t good for us, but that wasn’t the point, we wanted to include as many schools and organizations as possible in volunteerism and start the conversation about homelessness, in fact, on topics that were not talked about back in 2000. We also wanted our customers to see that it is not only MoSt that is behind them, but that it is raising citizens’ awareness,” Lelas says, adding:
“The funds raised are intended exclusively for the homeless shelter, are placed in a separate account, and are also used partly to upgrade the center. With it, we manage to distribute small one-off cash payouts for Christmas and buy food. At the same time, we also use these funds for some expenses that they cannot provide, for example, for personal documents, for them to return home, which are small one-off costs that they cannot meet through social institutions. Of course, it also benefits us in terms of maintaining the space – we accept a lot of people, they change, we have to invest constantly, so this year we had to renovate the space two or three times and that money is good for us.”
The action ran until 2 pm today and is an ideal opportunity to buy inexpensive gifts for the upcoming holidays while helping those in need.
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