Madrid residents donate food to needy

A local market in the Las Letras district of Madrid has offered free space and their vendors have been donating fruit and vegetables towards food parcels. University professor Hector Grande, helped by a group of volunteers, organized the food bank when he saw people losing their jobs and soup kitchens closing amid the pandemic.

Madrid:The residents in central Madrid have organized a food bank to help out their neighbors in need, as the coronavirus lockdown has led to high unemployment rates in the country.

A local market in "Las Letras" district has offered free space and their vendors have been donating fruit and vegetables towards food parcels.

University professor Hector Grande, helped by a group of volunteers, organized the food bank when he saw people losing their jobs and soup kitchens closing amid the pandemic.

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Grande says that the initiative came together very quickly as it was obvious how necessary the food parcels were, with over 600 people signing up for the donations in its first few days.

In April, unemployment in Madrid shot-up by nearly 12% with 41,623 more people than the previous month losing their jobs.

The Spanish capital now has a total of over 400,000 people who are out of work, according to data from the unemployment services of the Madrid Regional Government.

(AP)