Hunger Day – information for volunteers

April

• Update your branch's collection plan. Instructions can be found here (currently available in Finnish and Swedish).
• Contact schools.

May

• 12 May: Headquarters will email the Hunger Day schedule and instructions to branch chairpersons, collection leaders, communications officers, vice chairpersons, secretaries, membership officers, Oma main users, school cooperation and youth activity contact persons, as well as treasurers.
• Place your material order already in the spring! This way, we have time to order additional print runs if any materials run out. By ordering early, you help our warehouse avoid peak-time congestion and ensure that everyone receives good service. However, all orders will be delivered at the beginning of August.
• You can find the Hunger Day remote training sessions under Fundraising activity training.

August

• 1 August: Material deliveries from the warehouse to branches begin.
• 1 August: Letters for schools are available on Rednet. The material will be sent to schools at the end of August.
• By 16 August, branches create the Hunger Day event notice in Oma.
• 23 August: Last day to order branch-specific MobilePay numbers
• 30 August: Press release templates are availabe in Volunteer info

September

• 6 September: Last day to order materials
• 6 September Last day to order PayPal POS credentials
• Press release I: invitation to become a collector, the branch sends this to local media. (two weeks before the collection)
• Press release II: story about the collection, the branch sends this to local media (during the collection week)
• 24–26 September: Hunger Day box collection
• 28 September: Branches report their estimated results and number of collectors by responding to the situation overview survey
• Press release III: thank you and possibly an estimate of the branch's collection result (after the collection)
• Thank the collectors and volunteers

October

• Submit the collectors' contact details to the collector register, if the collector has given permission for this
• By 1 October, weekly monitoring of collection results of the box collection begins
• By 31 October at the latest, deposit the funds into the Disaster Relief Fund account using your branch's Hunger Day reference number

November

• 30 November: Deadline for branches' final accounting
• By 30 November, respond to the feedback survey on RedNet
• Thank-you celebration by now at the latest!

January

• The final result of Hunger Day will be published

It All Began in Pälkäne

In November 1980, the town of Pälkäne was buzzing. The local Red Cross branch had challenged the whole community to cut back on food spending for a single day and donate the savings to people facing hunger in Africa. There were plenty of ways to give – collection boxes, soup sales and a church concert, to name a few.

The campaign was launched in unusual circumstances: a newspaper strike made it hard to spread the word. Even so, schoolchildren carried the message home to more than a thousand households, and the effort succeeded beyond all expectations. The very next year it expanded nationwide and was given the name Hunger Day.

By 2025, Hunger Day has raised 104 million euros. Countless people have received help, both around the world and here in Finland. Over the decades, tens of thousands of volunteers have kept the Hunger Day flame burning. Thank you for being one of them!

Attachments (in Finnish):

• Pälkäneen aloituskirje.pdf
• Siskon-päivä Pälkäneellä.pdf
• Ateria Afrikkaan – Nälkäpäivä 26.11.1981.pdf

The district office and headquarters staff are happy to help you with any questions you may have.

District offices:

• Helsinki-Uusimaa: Heidi Hellman, 040 680 6675 tai Kerstin (Kikka) Österlund, 040 162 6002
• Häme: Marjut Välimaa, 040 809 6853
• Kaakkois-Suomi: Piritta Keränen, 040 582 5277
• Lappi: Sanna Karhu, 040 770 9793
• Länsi-Suomi: Tave Rautiainen, 0400 263 447
• Oulu: Tanja Kalliainen, 040 748 4305
• Satakunta: Mia Vettenranta, 050 305 5467
• Savo-Karjala: Sanna Vihavainen, 040 676 3906 
• Varsinais-Suomi: Jenni Piilinen, 040 575 9595
• Turunmaa: Annalena Sjöblom, 0400 838 675
• Åland: Linda Nummelin-Gammals, 040 675 8455
• Österbotten: Linda Sundman-Melin, 050 566 2642 or osterbotten@redcross.fi
• Questions regarding online store credentials by email: myynti@punainenristi.fi tai puhelimitse 020 701 2211
• Headquarters: Mia Ekström, 040 5622 472 or keraykset@punainenristi.fi 

Email addresses are in the format firstname.lastname@punainenristi.fi