23,605 families in Moldova received material aid from the government ahead of the freshly-started school year, Info-Prim Neo has learned from the Ministry of Social Protection, Family and Child. The National Social Assistance Fund offered through its local agencies a sum of 4 million lei. These funds were used to offer material aid mainly to families with many children and families that urgently needed assistance to send their children to school. Another 6 million lei were allocated from the local social assistance funds. The recipients were chiefly numerous families with four and more children, single-parent families, those on low incomes and those affected by floods. In addition, material aid was offered to the children who lost their breadwinners, uninstitutionalized children, disabled children and the members of family-type homes for children. The average cost of one package of material aid was 424 lei. In 2007 the number of families that received material aid ahead of the school year stood at about 15,000.