Maltese Soup campaign launches to support older people living alone

The traditional Maltese Soup charity campaign launched on Tuesday, calling for donations to support older people living alone and in poverty in Lithuania, LRT reported.

The Malta Order Relief Service said it currently cares for 3,005 older people in 44 locations across the country. Volunteers deliver hot meals and food parcels to their homes, help with household tasks, buy medicines, visit people who are ill and arrange support from specialists. Day centres and clubs help older people overcome loneliness, while a Maltese Home in Viekšnaliai, Telšiai district, provides ongoing care for those who need it.

“We greatly value the financial support of people in Lithuania, because it allows us to meet our commitments to older people throughout the year and reach them in remote homesteads,” the organisation’s secretary general, Edvinas Regelskis, said. He added that volunteers visit older people several times a week in both winter and summer, not only during the campaign.

Campaign events will take place in many Lithuanian cities until the New Year. The money raised will fund meals and other assistance throughout 2027. Donations can be made by calling 1415 to give 10 euros or 1495 to give five euros. Other amounts can be donated online.

The campaign began on November 3, the 100th birthday of former president Valdas Adamkus, its longtime patron.