Post the pandemic lockdown, there has been a striking hike in the unemployment rate and many families, especially those belonging to the unorganised sector and daily wage earners are still facing the brunt. During this misery, one did witness many people coming forward reaching out to those in misery and need. CSOs from across the country sprang into action at once and had been at the forefront ever since.

Caritas India also initiated similar deeds in the wake of the pandemic after-effect. It decided to celebrate Christmas with newness by launching ‘Christmas Express’, a campaign highlighting the essence of volunteering and building a sharing community. This campaign would be run during the whole month of December, wherein various initiatives and activities have been planned.

“Christmas Express as a platform for each one of us to reach out to the community around us, promoting the values of sharing and caring,” envisions Fr Paul Moonjely, Executive Director of Caritas India. He invited people from different walk of life to support this initiative during this season.

After feeding lakhs of people through its community kitchens during Covid-19, it initiated free meal distribution – Anand Bhoj – in Delhi. Hot vegetarian meal was cooked and distributed in and around Connaught Place, RML Hospital and Shanti Ashram (Home for destitute). Mix-Vegetable, Dal, Rice and Pickle was cooked by the staff, who volunteered to prepare and distribute the meal,  which was internally mobilised from their contributions to feed 150 homeless people. The employees were involved from buying the food, cooking, transporting and distributing the meal to people. Sharing a Meal is one of the noble services to humankind, which when done voluntarily as part of sharing community can be extremely blissful. According to Fr Paul Moonjely, Executive Director of Caritas India, “Christmas Express is brought to each one of us as a platform to reach out to the community around us, promoting the values of sharing and caring.”

The current winter wave has added to the pandemic misery for those living on the streets and shelter homes. Ninety-six people have died within 14 days of this month and in coming days this number may go up. Taking note of this situation, blanket distribution drive has been initiated as part of Christmas Express by Caritas India. Starting from December 21, 2020, it has distributed more than 300 blankets to daily wage earners, domestic workers and beggars living in slums of Guwahati city and Delhi. Caritas India has targeted to reach out to 4000 people, especially the homeless and those who cannot afford to buy proper bedding, in six regions – Delhi, Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and some cities in the North East.

During the distribution in Sarai Julena in Delhi, one of the domestic workers shared that due to Covid-19, she is not being called in any of the houses for work. Since the lockdown, her family had been living hand to mouth, primarily depending on the help from various organisations and people.

Christmas Express is being made possible by the support and willing contribution of individual donors. One of the beneficiaries in Guwahati shared that since there had been additions in her family, this blanket and the love showed through this gesture would warm her children during this winter season. This truly brings out the true essence of Christmas as shared by Fr Jolly, Assistant Director of Caritas India, “Besides the religious and festive celebrations, Christmas is also an invitation to share the joy of affection and warmth by putting a smile on the face of each person we meet with during this Holy Season.  This indeed is an open invitation to every person of goodwill to join hands with Caritas India during this Season of Christmas in expressing our fraternal feelings to our most needy sisters and brothers.”