Caritas Austria

the main goal of caritas austria is to see hardship and act on it. this means to respect human life to its whole extent and to protect and help people in need, regardless of their origin, religion, gender, sexual orientation and abilities. it includes helping and empowering people in need to help them help themselves, as well as representing people who do not have a voice of their own (legal representation, lobbying). at the heart of caritas´ work is a wide-range of 1,600 social assistance programs that target the poor and vulnerable in austria. among other things the services provided include legal and psychosocial counselling for people in need, the collection and distribution of food and other in kind donations, homeless and emergency shelters as well as shelters for mothers and their children, street work and counselling for people struggling with addictions, mobile and in-patient care for the elderly, support for caregivers, housing and job trainings for people with disabilities,