La Rioja will allocate 185,000 euros to serve those excluded from wallet cards

Counselor María Martín anticipated it without details last Thursday, in the plenary session of Parliament, and this Wednesday the general director of Social Services, Marta Gómez, revealed the fine print. The regional Executive finalizes the processing of an agreement with the Food Bank of La Rioja, for an amount of 185,000 euros, to cover the basic food needs of vulnerable families who are left out of the umbrella of the new wallet card program, designed only for nuclei family members with dependent minors.

The general director, who estimated the food distribution that the Bank will organize through 50 entities at 132,000 kilos, explained that the food distribution resulting from this agreement will be developed in parallel with the wallet card program, “an imposed and insufficient model that “It will only provide food to about 450 families in La Rioja, instead of 14,800 people as has been done until now.”

For this reason, Marta Gómez, although she admitted that “the quality of the service is much higher than the previous system and the way food is delivered dignifies the service,” defended that “this agreement with the Food Bank was created to provide an outlet for those who are “They are left out of this program, generally older people and those who are in rural environments who suffer, first-hand, from this new model due to the territorial implementation of supermarkets.”

Regarding the new program. The general director announced that it will be implemented in La Rioja starting next July 1. The beneficiaries will be referred by Social Services to the Red Cross, the entity in charge during this 2024 transition of managing the model until the autonomous communities assume it from 2025. At the NGO headquarters, the beneficiaries – families with dependent minors and who are below the poverty line, with income per consumption unit less than 40% of the national median income – will receive a card or voucher – between 130 euros and 220 euros per month – redeemable for food products and basic hygiene products in pre-established supermarkets, in the case of the region only Alcampo, Carrefour and Eroski.

With the implementation of the new model, Social Services has also decided to reinforce the care staff. «Unlike the rest of the communities, in order to support the social workers of the local entities, due to the additional work that the identification of families and their subsequent referral to the Red Cross entails, we have proceeded to hire two workers full-time social workers,” said Marta Gómez.