Red Cross in Lithuania opens humanitarian aid line

VILNIUS - The Lithuanian Red Cross on Tuesday opened a humanitarian aid line, 

People in Lithuania will be able to call the short number 111 and receive urgent help from volunteers and staff in the event of a disaster requiring humanitarian aid in the form of items or clothing, counseling, accommodation, financial or psychological assistance.

The 111 humanitarian hotline will be open 24/7, including public holidays. Operators will be able to provide assistance in Lithuanian, English and Russian.

Humanitarian aid will be provided as quickly as possible depending on the situation, the organization said, adding that items will be available for pickup at at designated humanitarian aid points and, if necessary, will be delivered to the right place.

This line is meant for people facing unexpected difficulties, the vulnerable, people with disabilities, large families, or simply in case of a disaster, such as a fire or similar situations, Kristina Meide, secretary general of the Lithuanian Red Cross, said.

The assistance will be organized by Lithuanian Red Cross volunteers and territorially-coordinated by the organization's 14 branches.

Provided assistance will not be long-term, Meide underlined.

"We do not promise permanent assistance, we are certainly not able to provide assistance for a long period of time, but if a person, for example, does not have money to buy shoes, does not have money to buy school supplies for a child at the beginning of the school year or food for the last weekend before the salary is due, we will always help," she said.