There are families who often go unnoticed, and these families are "not used to receiving something". He added: thanks to the gifts put together by the center, these families also receive "the wonder of what it's like when you are surrounded by attention", someone notices that it is difficult for them and that they need help. This kind of gift is at least as important as what is in the packages. This year, the Single-parent Center will surprise 200 single-parent families in Budapest and rural areas with gift packages.  

In times of crisis, it is especially important to look out for each other

- said State Secretary for Culture Péter Hoppál

This year, the Single-parent Center will surprise 200 single-parent families in Budapest and rural areas with gift packages. Rural theaters are helping to deliver the donations, and their representatives took over the packages on Tuesday so that they could be handed over to the people living in the countryside by Christmas.

At the event, the State Secretary of the Ministry of Culture and Innovation said that after the regime change, people had to be empowered again to notice others and that it is important that those who can give to those who are more in need than themselves.

Péter Hoppál thanked the Single-Family Center for asking the rural stone theaters to deliver the gifts this year and also the theaters for accepting this.

He believed that by taking a role in the initiative, the theaters are refuting the fact that we are living in the period of the individual, of self-realization at all costs, of a culture based on the principle of "because you deserve it". The participation of the theaters in the initiative shows that

community is also a value, and openness towards each other is the task of all of us

said Péter Hoppál.

He reminded: the involvement of theaters in the initiative is not without precedent, since the workers in the institutional system of the cultural sector, including artists, took their share of social responsibility during the pandemic and showed that they are sensitive to people's problems.

Péter Hoppál said that on the third Sunday of Advent, the Christmas holiday is already "tangibly close", when we all feel a little like we have been gifted and we also desire to share this experience with others. He noted: this is self-evident in the family circle, in the European Christian cultural circle, the culture of giving gifts to each other is built around Christmas and being gifted with the savior.

He added:

In the economic crisis caused by the war, the Single Parent Center undertook to draw attention to those "whose balance is fragile, maintaining it also requires effort". It's good if we can count on each other

he noted.

Péter Hoppál quoted the deaconesses' former slogan (My reward is that I can do it) and asked that this be the mission of the Single Parent Center initiative, so that broad circles of society feel that it is especially important in times of crisis to "pay attention to each other and let our reward be that we can do it".

Anna Nagy , head of the Single Parent Center, spoke about

In Hungary, approximately 300,000 families are missing a father or mother, and there are half a million children living in the country who are missing one of their parents.

He added that being a single parent sometimes means a very difficult life situation, so at the Single Parent Center, whenever they can, they try to "do a miracle" for families who "really lack a miracle in their lives".

Anna Nagy drew attention to:

there are families who are often not noticed, and these families are "not used to receiving something". He added: thanks to the gifts put together by the center, these families also get "the wonder of what it's like when you are surrounded by attention", someone notices that it is difficult for them and that they need help. This kind of gift is at least as important as what is in the packages

he noted.

Thanks to donations from supporters, the Single-parent Center will surprise four hundred single-parent families this year with a 40,000 HUF gift package each containing cleaning and toiletry products. The theater directors of the county seats were asked to be the Christmas ambassadors of the Single-Family Center, who will hand over the gift packages in their own town.

The single-parent center in Budapest opened in May 2018 to provide practical help and community to families without one parent. In the past 4.5 years, 27,000 families have been helped. In March of this year, the second Single Parent Center was opened in Buda.

MTI

Cover photo: Anna Nagy, head of the Single Parent Center, and Péter Hoppál, state secretary responsible for culture (center, bj) in the company of theater directors at the center's event on December 13, 2022.
This year, the Single Parent Center will surprise 200 Budapest and 200 rural single-parent families with gift packages. Rural theaters are helping to deliver the donations, and their representatives have taken over the packages so that they can be handed over to the people living in the countryside by Christmas. MTI/Zoltán Máthé