The Spar and Hiperdino food chains have won the European Social Fund contract to provide coverage to families with fewer resources in the south of Gran Canaria to fight against material deprivation through the 'Basic' Program. The decision is made by the central government, which must transfer financing and support measures in a chain with the support of municipal officials as well as external social entities. This measure complements others such as those of the Food Bank, Cáritas or the Red Cross.
It is a model that works with wallet cards and is aimed at families in extreme conditions of vulnerability with minors in their care, thus meeting the objective of reducing child poverty that the European Commission set as a priority when approving this program. Under this criterion, dozens of families will receive these cards with which they will be able to make monthly purchases of food and basic necessities.
Both Hiperdino and Spar in the south of Gran Canaria will have a system that allows cards to be provided and non-eligible products excluded at the checkout, since the type of products that can be accessed includes only those considered essential, as as the European program points out. For example, with these cards you cannot buy ultra-processed foods or alcoholic beverages.
The wallet cards will have a financial envelope of between 130 and 220 euros per month. Furthermore, this new system meets another important objective: avoiding the social stigmatization that the most vulnerable families often suffer, applying a mechanism that already works successfully in other European countries.
It is now the Government of the Canary Islands that has the responsibility of identifying, evaluating and referring potential beneficiaries of this system, in order to send them cards with municipal data. Beneficiaries will be able to directly access fresh food and baby food, as well as basic hygiene products (including feminine hygiene products), something that represents an improvement over the type of products they choose through traditional food distribution. . On this point, the wallet card system will complement and reinforce the resources that already exist, such as those offered by local Social Services or Food Banks, which will continue to receive the rest of the public funds destined for these objectives in addition to the Red Cross.
