Ville Mustonen from Järvenpää, a small town close to the Finnish capital, Helsinki, received a Hyvä Joulumieli (Christmas Spirit) gift card in 2016. His children had moved in to live with him just a few months before Christmas, which meant that he had needed to make some changes, including giving up his job. Ville, who … Read more

Poverty affects over 100 000 children in Finland, and according to experts, the amount is not on the decline. Especially single parents are at risk, but increasingly poverty also affects families with two parents who have children under the age of 7, or three or more children. It is harder to get economic assistance, and it … Read more

One autumn day in 1997, Arto Nyberg, then reporter at the morning TV-show Aamu-tv, sat at home and was thinking about how privileged he was. Those thoughts were the starting point to what came to be the Christmas Spirit campaign Hyvä Joulumieli.  One could call Arto Nyberg father of the Hyvä Joulumieli campaign. In 1997 … Read more

The Hyvä Joulumieli (Christmas Spirit) campaign helps less fortunate families to forget their everyday troubles for a moment, at least for the holidays. Inka Poikela can still remember what receiving a food voucher felt like. Almost exactly seven years ago Inka Poikela, 34, had moved from Sodankylä to the Oulu area. The small Laplander community … Read more