I received the following message from a member of our community:
‘Do you know of any high-school or university/college students who would be interested in temporary/part-time jobs? My company is hiring for summer vacationers. The company is Sanne Group, a Jersey (Channel Islands) based Trust company here in Luxembourg. We are looking for summer vacationers to help with filing/admin for a couple of weeks.’

For further information contact Ian by email or mobile: 671 510 839.

Fr Ed

Our next Marriage Preparation Day will be on Saturday, October 15, from 10:00 – 16:00. It’s currently due to be hosted in the meeting room at St Alphonse, but if we need more space, we will re-locate (plenty of notice will be given). This course is for couples preparing for marriage: it’s not about preparing for the ceremony itself, but for the rest of married life together. These days have been both popular and highly rated; input is given by trained Marriage Preparation presenters, and couples have an opportunity also to share their own experience of life together.

Exceptionally (due to scheduling issues, for example) you can take the course after your church wedding. If you wish to register for the October date, please contact me and I will subscribe you. To cover costs, we ask €75 from each couple; if this is beyond your means, no problem — again, just get in touch. Refreshments and a sandwich lunch are provided.

Our October course will be presented by Kit and Caroline Dollard who work both for the diocese of Middlesbrough and the Abbey of Ampleforth in the UK.

Fr Ed

Tomorrow, 3rd July, we have our outdoor Mass and bbq in the garden of St Alphonse. Mass is at the usual time, 11:15, and the food follows afterwards.

You don’t need to sign up, just come along. If you can bring a salad or a quiche or anything else, please do so; if not, don’t worry!

The weather forecast looks reasonable, but provision has been made in case of rain. First Holy Communion children are invited to wear their FHC clothes.

There will be music, and games for the children, and food for all!

I look forward to seeing you,

Fr Ed

(the parking will be closed)

In short, Cent Buttek is an organisation in Luxembourg which takes almost-out-of-date food from shops and distributes it to those in need. The majority of us in Luxembourg who are relatively well off have a duty to those who do not have what they need to live, and Cent Buttek do wonderful work towards making sure that what would otherwise be wasted goes to those who would benefit most. Cent Buttek depend on volunteer workers, and needs funds for its work. I asked Adely Thill-Gross from the organisation for outline of the organisation’s work. If you feel able to help in any way, you can contact Adely (details below)

Thank you,

Fr Ed

“In a country as rich as Luxembourg where most people live in abundance, some don’t even have enough to eat. It is for them that the Cent Butteks exist in Beggen , Bettembourg and Lamadelaine.

The “Cent Buttek” operates in a similar way to “Die Tafeln” in Germany. Founded in 2009 by a group of volunteers, we are supported by supermarkets, bakers, corner shops and other donators. . Financially we can only exist if we get donations, which are used to improve the installation and facilities of the buttek and to buy supplementary food products. For example actually we have to buy a new fridge van. We are staffed only by volunteers, and we have about 230 people working for the Association at the moment.

From Monday to Saturday the volunteers collect the groceries, which are perfectly fine but near to the expiry date an therefore unsalable in regular shops. Once the provisions have been delivered to the Cent Buttek by our drivers, they are sorted by date and prepared for distribution. Certain fruits will be used to prepare jam for the customers of the shop. With our collecting of foods we fulfill a double challenge : we avoid the wasting of them and in distributing them we help people in need.

Functioning of the Cent Buttek in Beggen
The social offices of Luxembourg City and Walferdange decide who they send to us. The financial situation of each family is checked and if it is found to be bad / precarious, they get a written authorization to come to us. We issue the a card on which is our logo, as well as the number of adults and children in their household and the validity of the card.

The situation of the families is regularly reviewed by the Social offices. Should their financial situation improve, no new card is issued.

Our shop in Beggen is open three times a week on Mondays , Wednesdays and Fridays.

The foodstuffs which we cannot use in Beggen are taken by our drivers to our shop in Bettembourg. If they don’t need anything, the stuff is delivered to the foyers for refugees, drug addicts etc….

When we open our shop at 3 pm, about 20 people are waiting outside. The first person arrives already at 12 oclock. They prefer waiting 2 or 3 hours to be the first one in the shop, because, they think, then the choice of the foodstuffs is the greatest at that moment.

They can choose a quantity of foodstuffs in relation to the number of people in their household.

Unlike the other social groceries, where the people have to pay a moderate price for each article purchased, our families pay only 2 Euros per family. We do have families who cannot even pay 2 Euros. In this case, the social office advises us either by making a note on the card, or by sending a letter.

Since August last year we are supported by the Fund for European Aid to the most deprived in providing us with essential food items such as sugar, oil, noodles , and as well with hygienic articles.

In Beggen we have 87 volunteers who work about 340 hours a week.

Last month 171 families needed our help.

Since the opening of the shop in August 2010 to May this year, we distributed approximated 330 tons of foodstuff .

We invite you cordially to visit us in Beggen so that we may have the opportunity to show you our Buttek.

Yours sincerely,

Adely Thill-Gross 621 35 94 49
Cent Buttek Beggen
166, rue de Beggen
L-1220 Luxembourg