Free milk and oil for 6,000 needy families in Malaga

A public-private partnership between Malaga City Council – through its department of Social Rights and Diversity headed by Francisco Cantos –, La Caixa Foundation, the Covap milk cooperative and Maskom supermarket chain will provide 6,000 vulnerable families with free milk and oil. Altogether, 73,400 litres of milk and 12,410 litres of oil will be distributed to people at risk of poverty and social exclusion.

Distribution will be carried out through 16 associations in Malaga that are participating in the programme whose representatives met on Thursday in the City Council’s Patio de Banderas together with mayor of Malaga, Francisco de la Torre, the councillor for the sector, tCaixaBank regional director for Andalucía, Juan Ignacio Zafra, the head of communication and branding of Covap, Reyes Ibáñez-Aldecoa, and general manager of Maskom, Sergio Cuberos.

The mayor highlighted the financial effort made by CaixaBank to meet these food needs in Malaga and also the cooperative and the supermarket chain for making a financial contribution. In the mayor's opinion, he said this is an example of the solidarity effort that "characterises the city of Malaga", where there are companies that "have the resources and also the will" to help those in need.

Speaking at the photocall Juan Ignacio Zafra said he wanted to acknowledge that it was councillor Francisco Cantos who set them the challenge of improving the provision of food to the city's needy. He also highlighted the value of the fact that "two major clients" of CaixaBank, Covap and Maskom, have cooperated to try to solve the problems of providing these two staple foods, impacted by inflation.

Zafra also highlighted the "network of absolute solidarity" that exists in Malaga, which makes the city, in his eyes, "one of the most supportive" that he knows of and which acts most quickly to resolve pressing problems such as the one we are dealing with. Milk and oil, Zafra said, "are two basic products that no one should be without".

Under the agreement, there is a contribution of 48,000 euros from the La Caixa Foundation through CaixaBank. The bank's branch network, the largest in Spain with a presence in 2,200 municipalities, can detect local needs and support the La Caixa Foundation in channelling financial aid to social organisations.