In the autumn of 1867, the government of Sweden granted emergency loans to the Northern counties, and the county governors were given permission and encouraged to establish emergency committees () to collect the funds needed from volunteers and philanthropists. Furthermore, two central emergency committees were created by the government: one located in the capital of Stockholm and the second in Gothenburg. The press published appeals for funds to help the needy, and charity concerts, charity plays and other similar events were hosted to collect money to pay for emergency help to the victims of the famine. Funds from outside Sweden were also contributed both from Europe and America (see table). In fact, the foreign contributions were reportedly about as large as those from inside the country. Among the contributors from outside Sweden was
Jenny Lind, with a sum of 500
kronor, and
John Ericsson with a sum of 20,000 kronor (equivalent to kronor in 2009). The help from the emergency committees was distributed by the local city councils. Formally, the
Poor Care Regulation of 1847, which was in effect at this time, was quite liberal, and would provide help for all who needed it. In reality, however, the emergency help was severely restricted by regulations imposed by the authorities and the elite in opposition to the law, which had come to be regarded as too liberal (it was in fact to be replaced soon after by the strict
Poor Care Regulation of 1871). The terms to receive help was not merely starvation: a starvation victim would have to be willing to work to receive help, otherwise they would not be given help. An exception was made for people who were physically unable to work, such as invalids and the elderly, but the regulations stipulated that only 10 percent of the emergency help was allowed to be spent on "
charity", while the rest was only to be distributed to people willing to work in exchange. Therefore, work such as road construction and home production of various form of handicraft objects were organized to give people in need of the emergency help an opportunity to work for it. In practice, these work tasks were meant as a symbolic demonstration that the government would only help those willing to work and be productive. Relief policies placed stringent work requirements on receiving aid. Everyone who was not
elderly,
disabled, or a
child, had to work to receive aid. These work requirements were motivated by the
Protestant work ethic. Monetary aid was given in the form of loans instead of aid. In the 19th century, the
Church of Sweden and committees of the poor looked down on the lower classes, holding, according to Katharina Rahnert, a “negative view" of them that often entailed them being slothful and deserving of poverty. She argues that there was a social perception that wealthy donors, in helping those who did not deserve it, were enhancing their own morality. The local city councils were criticized for enforcing the principle of help in exchange for work so far that most of the needy were left without help. An example of this abuse occurred in the parish of
Grundsunda kommun in
Ångermanland, where no one who could not offer
Surety was given help. The local governor,
Per Grundström, described in the distribution of help in the press: "A great mass of beggars and paupers could not be given anything.
Torp-dwellers and other undesirables were in fact left without much at all." The authorities recommended that the starving people should eat
Bark bread made of
lichen rather than expect great amounts of
flour in relief help. Some of the local emergency committees, such as the one in
Härnösand, mixed the flour with lichen and had it baked to bread before distributing it. This bread, however, caused chest pains and, in children, vomiting. Flour aid was secretly mixed with bark. ==Aftermath and resulting emigration==