Guests ranging from single adults to elderly couples and families with children greeted the arrival of each of the trucks carrying food with shouts and applause.
Before dinner, about a hundred people were able to take a shower and get a haircut or a shave in tents set up around the square.
According to the INDEC government statistics agency, in the first half of the year poverty jumped 11 points and reached 52.9 percent, 18.1 percent of whom are homeless.
Meanwhile, child poverty reached 66 percent, affecting seven million children under 14 years of age.
“This dinner shows that there is plenty of solidarity, but it is not enough,” said Gonzalez.
Sitting at one of the tables, Juan Carlos Benitez, a 59-year-old homeless man, said he was grateful for the opportunity to have a plate of food and also “laugh a bit and talk to someone” this Christmas.
© 2024 AFP
