The Unwanted Attention Debrecen Women’s Association for Public Life hosted people in need for the 16th time on the day after Christmas. Statement by the association.
At nine o’clock in the morning on the day after Christmas, the thermometer showed minus four degrees Celsius at Petőfi Square in Debrecen. Fortunately, there was no wind and the sun was shining. Most residents of Debrecen were probably still recovering from the fatigue of eating bejgli the day before, gathering strength for the remaining days of the holiday.
But there is another Debrecen as well — an “invisible” one.
The “invisible” residents of Debrecen began gathering at Petőfi Square early on the morning after Christmas. This year, the Unwanted Attention Debrecen Women’s Association for Public Life invited them for the sixteenth time to a Christmas meal. By this point, “official” charity efforts — mostly funded by public money — have usually already ended, the love campaigns have closed, and everything will only restart a year later.
Let us be honest: apart from civic groups, few people are truly concerned that for days after the holidays many poor people can obtain a hot meal and a few kind words only through free food distributions. The attitude that “if someone is poor, they deserve it” is one of the gravest moral failures of the past decade and a half.
At Petőfi Square, the line kept growing longer. Adults, children, the elderly, and middle-aged people arrived continuously. Most of them are small pensioners or members of large families. They are particularly hard hit during the holiday season, as they often struggle with deprivation even on ordinary weekdays.
Christmas is often called the holiday of love. The question arises quite rightly: why does this love last only a few days? Why does it not function throughout the entire year? Why is the social care system unable to fulfill its role, and why has being poor become a crime in present-day Hungary?
According to our experience, year after year more and more children arrive at food distributions with their parents. More and more children are hungry, and even during the holidays no hot food reaches many family tables. Often, even dry bread is considered a valuable commodity.
By the end of the day, around 170 guests were able to eat their fill and go home laden with food supplies. We did not forget the children either: more than fifty young children received Christmas gifts, chocolate, and specially prepared pastries. Fortunately, they do not yet know that for the system that calls itself family- and child-friendly, they are practically invisible. Their fate is often decided already at birth, and today in Hungary there is little chance that children born into poverty will live happier lives than their parents.
“We saw the better face of Debrecen” — this is the title we gave to our statement. It is important to emphasize: we were not praising the city’s leadership. In our assessment, far less is being done for people pushed to the margins of society than the grand slogans would suggest.
However, civic courage is alive in Debrecen. The city’s residents brought donations to the square in greater numbers than ever before: fish soup, pastries, Christmas candies, yogurt, pizza, hot tea, toys, and sweets. Almost every minute, a resident of Debrecen arrived, often anonymously, modestly, without expecting anything in return or any expression of thanks. Some help regularly, while others had already donated last Christmas.
We also secretly hoped that the deputy mayor responsible for social affairs would appear and bring some donations at their own expense, especially in light of the fact that our invitations have gone unanswered for a long time.
We are grateful to every donor.
Our community also selected Debrecen’s “people of the heart” for the year 2025. By unanimous decision, the honorary title was awarded to an unknown Debrecen family who bring pizza for the children to every one of our food distributions. They do so anonymously, selflessly, purely out of humanity and love. We bow our heads before them with deep respect.
The association will next welcome its guests with hot food, kind words, and love on January 25, 2026.
– Ibolya Kádár Tukoráné, head of the association –
