On January 2, after an apartment building exploded in Vilnius, Viršuliškės, the Lithuanian Red Cross (LRC), reacting to the situation that people lost their homes, belongings, and one family lost a child, hastened to invite the public to contribute financially to support the victims. The amount collected, which was managed to be collected and distributed to the victims, amounted to 190 EUR, all the money has already reached the accounts of the victims.
The money was distributed to 33 families
All the financial support collected by the public was transferred directly to the accounts of all owners and tenants of apartments who responded - a total of 29 owners and 4 tenants. The money was divided equally among 33 families. The additional payment is allocated depending on the number of people who lived, adding 10% for each additional resident from the base amount, with the maximum additional payment being allocated for special circumstances, if one of the residents was disabled, had special needs or in the event of death.
A total of EUR 4717,8, EUR 5189,6, EUR 5661,40 or EUR 6133,2 was transferred to families. Rusnė Matulaitytė, head of fundraising and marketing of the Lithuanian Red Cross, says that as soon as the fundraising initiative was announced, the public willingly contributed to helping the victims. "As soon as the news about the accident spread, we received hundreds of suggestions from indifferent people on how they can contribute - some with things, a ride, and some with financial support. We once again proved that our strength lies in unity, we want and can help a complete stranger in distress. I am proud and grateful to everyone who contributed, as well as to partners Aukok.lt, "TCG", "Telia", "Bitė" and "Tele2″, with which we did not apply any administrative fees, so that every euro donated turned into direct support for people", says R. Matulaitytė.
She says that the organization decided to transfer the money directly to the bank accounts of the affected people, because the people themselves will be the best to decide what they need the most. "Based on international humanitarian aid practices, we decided to transfer the donated money directly to the bank accounts of the victims' families - the people affected by the explosion had to rebuild their living conditions, their needs were different due to their different ages and health conditions, so we believe that after receiving financial support, they could to decide with dignity what to buy for the received support", says R. Matulaitytė.
Provided both psychological and material assistance
LRK communication specialist Milda Vibrantytė says that the organization's volunteers also provided assistance at the scene: they provided first psychosocial assistance, provided necessary information and otherwise helped the special services provide assistance to the affected people: "People were in shock and were in the dark. In such cases where it occurs fire or in this case - a house explosion, the special services make every effort to extinguish the fire as quickly as possible, eliminate the dangerous effects, and do not have the capacity to provide psychological assistance to the victims of shock. Therefore, our volunteers and psychologists went to the scene and distributed humanitarian aid, provided emotional support, psychological help and relevant information to the residents of the house who were in a state of shock."
Two weeks after the explosion, the People's Republic of China organized a fundraiser, where they invited the public to donate things to people who lost their homes. "Since the residents of the exploded apartment building could no longer return to their homes, the majority of people had to re-furbish their living quarters, so there was a great shortage of things: from mattresses and sofas, towels and bed linen, to dishes, household appliances, TVs and radios. We are glad that the doors did not close that day: people actively donated the items that we gave to the affected people," says M. Vibrantytė.
