The Albany Gazette - Thousands attend Christmas charity dinner in Buenos Aires

"I came because I feel alone and it's sad," said Walter Villagra, a 54-year-old homeless man who survives by collecting cans after he lost his job as an electrician four years ago.

Titled "No Family Without Christmas," the event in front of the National Congress was held for the eighth consecutive year, and Tuesday's turnout exceeded organizers' expectations.

"To say that it is a special year because there is more and more poverty is sad, but it is true," Mariana Gonzalez, spokesperson for the Movement of Excluded Workers, one of the organizers behind the event, told AFP. "There are more and more people sleeping on the street and more people coming to the soup kitchens because they do not have a plate of food, it is a very difficult year."

Long tables covered with tablecloths were laid out on the street in front of Congress and the atmosphere was joyful with floating balloons, music and clowns walking on stilts.

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.

(K.Jones--TAG)