One cent donated for every kilometre travelled without accident serves to purchase a vehicle for the missions. The project has been organized by the Catholic association MIVA (Missions-Verkehrs-Arbeitsgemeinschaft) in Austria to coincide with the feast of St. Christopher (24 July), patron saint of car drivers. All Austrian Catholics have been invited to donate one cent for every kilometre travelled without accidents during the year. The donations received will be used to purchase vehicles for mission countries and to support aid for development in the poor countries. The event is not new: it is now in its 46th year, and also involves Switzerland, Germany, Italy, Slovenia, Poland and Slovakia. Ever since its foundation in 1949, the association has been able to buy some 17,000 vehicles for the missions in Africa, Asia, Latin America and Eastern Europe at an overall cost of some 93 million euros.
