Finland's Christams charity dinner caters to 2,000 guests: report

A Christmas Eve charity dinner on Saturday at the Helsinki Fair Center saw nearly 2,000 guests in need, local media reported.

While the dinner has been offered for decades by a local charitable organization, its attendance figures have grown over the years.

Christmas dinners in Finland usually include ham and casseroles.

Media reports cited Heikki Hursti, the main organizer, as saying that among the guests on Saturday were many people who had work but with their income were not able to make ends meet.

There is no official criterion for poverty in Finland. Statistics Finland, however, determines that a single person with an income less of 1,190 euros is poor.

The National Institute of Health and Wellbeing reported in October 2016 that the income level of 440,000 Finns, or 8 percent of the national population, remained under the requirements of meeting essential consumption needs.

Most vulnerable are those who live alone in rental accommodations and receive basic unemployment benefits, the Institute said. Endit