Christmas Appeal - Be the Secret Santa of a poor friend

The members of the community of Sant'Egidio are friends of the poor. We would like to bring good news and joy for Christmas to our friends. This year we plan to sit down again at the same festive table and to celebrate Christmas together. The poorest are always the loneliest at Christmas - we can alleviate their loneliness with our care and gifts.

In the community of Sant'Egidio, the first Christmas lunch was organized in 1982 in the Basilica of Santa Maria in Trastevere in Rome, when twenty people took part in the celebration. Since then, the Christmas lunch spent with the poor has become a tradition and now more than seven hundred cities set the table for the holiday every year. Poor and rich, young and old celebrate together in restaurants, parish halls, churches, school halls, where they are welcomed. They celebrate together with the lonely elderly in nursing homes, refugees in shelters, prisoners in prisons.

In Hungary, in the cities of Budapest, Pécs and Monor, we organize Christmas lunches for the homeless, for the elderly living in nursing homes, for poor children and their families and for refugees. It is a great pleasure to participate at the lunch both as a guest and as a helper. Christmas differently - together with the poor. For the holiday, we also give presents to our poor friends, we try to prepare personalized gift packages for them.

We ask for your donation to cover the delicious festive lunch and the gifts. You can indicate on a form if you would like to send a gift package for someone or you can also choose to financially support the lunch or the gift of a needy person.

After you have signed up and chose the option of sending a gift, we will send you the profile of a poor person for whom you can prepare the package. It is important that for Christmas we only give beautiful and new gifts that we would also be happy to receive. You can send the gift by post to us - we recommend this option in the epidemic situation -, but personal delivery is also possible if you live in Budapest, Pécs or Monor. In these cities, we also welcome helpers who would like to participate at the lunches. We ask you to deliver your gift as soon as possible, but no later than December 24.

How can you be a Secret Santa?

1. Fill out the form and we will reply to you via e-mail within a few days.

Click here: FORM

2. In the e-mail we will give you all the necessary information about whom you can help, what would be the best gift for him/her and how you can send us your package.

If you would like to support the lunch of one or more people by donating money, it is also possible to transfer your donation to the following account numbers (in this case, when you are not sending a gift package, it is not necessary to fill out the form):

Kultúra és Segélyegylet Alapítvány, 12001008-00110054-00100004 (Budapest, Monor)

Zichy Gyula Alapítvány, 50800104–11069784 (Pécs)