New offer: “Team Austria Tafel” goes mobile
Ingrid Kern-Pongratz has been a woman from day one. Since 2012, the native of southern Burgenland has been volunteering with the Team Österreich Tafel in the district of Güssing. Nine years ago she also took over the management of the dispensary with five teams. “I was a day job as a bank clerk and wanted to do something social at the same time,” says the 62-year-old. She is now retired and dedicates a lot of time to the social project.
Not only food is handed out to those who don’t have that much money left to live on. Customers also find that she and her teams have an open ear for problems and concerns. “It’s a nice activity and you get a lot in return,” says Kern-Ponggratz about her voluntary commitment.
In 2010, the Red Cross launched the initiative with Ö3. Around 1,000 people in Burgenland, whose income is often not enough to live on, come to one of the eight distribution points of the “Team Austria Tafel” in the state to do their shopping. For an expense allowance of two euros, you can shop as needed. “The weekly purchases per person have an average value of 80 to 100 euros,” says Red Cross spokesman Manuel Komosny.
400 tons of groceries
Around 600 volunteers and employees of the Red Cross work throughout Burgenland and provide customers with around 400 tons of food per year. “Use instead of wasting – that’s the motto,” says Komosny. The cooperation with supermarkets and producers works well.
In order to reach those people who are not mobile or who have problems getting to the issuing office at fixed times, there is now a new offer: The Team Österreich Tafel is now the first in Austria to be mobile and patients throughout Burgenland are cared for locally in their community .
The buses cost around 200,000 euros. According to the Red Cross, the infrastructure for the new mobile service was able to be acquired thanks to funding from the Ministry of Social Affairs.