After closing time at supermarkets on Monday, around 4,000 volunteers across the country will hand out unsold food products to people who come to collect them at 37 different distribution points.
December 23rd, lille juleaften or “Little Christmas Eve” as it’s known in Denmark, is the busiest day of the year for charity Stop Spild Lokalt (“Stop Food Waste Locally”).
The largest distribution point at the Parken football stadium in Copenhagen saw 5,000 people queuing in 2023 to receive surplus Christmas food products including flæskesteg (pork), potatoes, red cabbage and more.
“We handed out food to around 55,000 people across that country last year and we expect it to be the same this year,” said the founder and director of Stop Spild Lokalt, Rasmus Erichsen.
The organisation does not know in advance how much surplus food will be available after close of business, but Erichsen told newswire Ritzau it was likely to amount to “several tonnes”.
After stores close, the excess products will be transported to the delivery points. Anyone is free to queue up and receive the redistributed food.
“We don’t check people in advance. You just have to show up, and be prepared for a fairly long wait,” Erichsen said.
2024 is the ninth consecutive year in which the charity has distributed Christmas food, working in partnership with supermarkets and merchants who donate surplus food which they cannot sell after Christmas.
“We have really received a lot of support and had a lot of interest in donating surplus food to us,” Erichsen said.
The organisation also redistributes food throughout the rest of the year at its madoaser or “food oases”, but the Christmas charity effort has the highest number of distribution points and takes place at an unusually late time of the day.
“There’s a very unique atmosphere when people come to collect the products. On one hand, people are happy and on the other hand also a bit subdued, because they often can’t afford to buy the food themselves,” Erichsen said.
“But people queue up with a smile and wish each other a Merry Christmas,” he said.
The quantity of food varies each year but the charity founder said he was sure there will be enough to go around.
“We essentially always have enough. No one ever goes home empty handed,” he said.
Comments