2023-08-23 18:41:00
A queue that is always full. Rue du Denmark, in Saint-Gilles, is a day at least as important as the start of the school year for families who come to pick up a school kit made up of a few modest folders, pads of paper and pencils. “It’s already something, it’s not nothing,” says Sylex, mother of three children. “Last year, I had it for 400 euros per child because the schools ask for very specific brands. And again, that didn’t cover everything.
Back to school soon: free education? My eye…
It must be said that each year, the start of the school year represents a new challenge for families’ wallets. A data that is reflected in the profile of the beneficiaries. In 2022, the non-profit organization “Solidarité Grands Froids”, which has been organizing the distribution of kits for nine years, offered 650 school kits, compared to 958 this year. Almost 50% more. “Before, we had people on the street, says Eric, a volunteer, in the middle of the kits which will all leave during the day. Now, we have single-parent families who have a salary, but with 1,800 euros. It is no longer possible to get out of it.”
Allowances are no longer enough
“It’s been the most catastrophic year,” observes Cynthia Simpson, who checks that each beneficiary has registered on a list transmitted by a network of 35 Brussels associations. “After the Covid, the energy crisis, we now see people who work, but for whom the allowances are no longer enough.”
This is the case of Janeta-Janet, mother of Moriah and Madeleine-Chloé, who came to queue under the sun. “It’s the first time I’ve come, I also took my neighbor’s packages.”
distribution of cold weather supplies for families in difficulty in st gilles ©ennio cameriere
“But we see donations decreasing”
The ASBL Solidarité Grands Froids (“in the plural, because there is cold outside but also cold in the heart”, explains Eric) is not subsidized, and works with donations or sponsors for school kits. The rest of the year, she helps the poorest with donations of clothes. “But we see the donations decrease”, notes the volunteer bitterly. “The donations decrease over time”, perhaps also because more and more people need it.
Floods in Liège, Ukraine, Turkey… Requests have multiplied over the past few months. For the 7,000 homeless people in Brussels, the ASBL Grands Froids only has one pair of shoes for men, for example.
“My gift, concludes Cynthia Simpson on a positive note, is to see children who were in primary school nine years ago, and to see that they are in secondary or higher education today.”
To help the ASBL Solidarité Grands Froids, two scenarios are possible. Via a donation of clothes in good condition to the premises of the association: rue du Denmark, 74 at 1060 Saint-Gilles. Or via a financial donation on the account: BE62 7320 5892 8561. More info on the site http://www.solidaritegrandsfroids.be/.
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