27 August 2020
The Winter Action (« Wanteraktioun – WAK ») is a humanitarian project implemented each winter in Luxembourg. Its objective is to provide homeless people with warm meals and a shelter. The Ministry for Family Affairs and Integration launched the Winter Action in partnership with three organisations (Inter-Actions, the Luxembourg Red Cross and Caritas).
From 1 December 2019 until 31 March 2020, 71 volunteers contributed to the organisation of a “Mëtteschdesch” (distribution of lunches) at the Bonnevoie daytime facility. Our social workers proposed several workshops to the beneficiaries of the Wanteraktioun, in addition to their essential socio-educational work. For instance, they gave advices in the field of professional reintegration, or organised art workshops.
In addition, 41 nurses and 6 doctors from the Help and Care service of the Red Cross volunteered to organise once a week, an hour of free medical consultations and to provide the beneficiaries with medical care two times a week.
This year, the WAK was extended until 30 June 2020, so as to continue to support homeless people, who were particularly at risk during the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic.
In this endeavour, all the facilities of the Winter Action were moved to one single site, in Findel, in accordance with the campaign “Bleift Doheem!”.
We took several sanitary and health measures, such as the distribution of protective equipment, the development of a procedure for Covid-19 tests for the beneficiaries of the Winter Action, or medical consultations.