German archive documents pandemic for posterity
Christmas without collections
Fundraising will be a big problem this year for anyone trying to do it face-to-face: There are no benefit concerts and only a handful of people at Christmas church services.
"We calculate that donations from Christmas collections, which make up half our income, will decrease by several million euros," estimates Michael Heinz, director of Adveniat, a German Catholic relief organization which works in Latin America.
The need grows
At the same time, the need for donations and voluntary work is now extraordinarily high. "In the past eight months, many of our project partners have approached us saying they need medicines, oxygen tanks, toiletries and even groceries," Heinz reports. In response, the organization carried out 427 coronavirus emergency projects, worth €7.3 million euros ($8.9 million).