1.  Milkmen have been collecting tinned foods and medicine from their customers to help the needy in the Russian town of Kostroma, which is twinned with County Durham.

2.  Collecting free food from pantries.

3.  If you are collecting food or blankets or clothing for the homeless, they will be there.

4.  The process of collecting food for meals is cumbersome, since almost everything is sold at specialty shops, though there are supermarkets in some neighborhoods.

5.  Among those collecting food Saturday was Mark Nyberg, the director of an orphanage in the rebel-held town of Vlore, in southern Albania.