2023-09-03 18:46:18
Posted Sep 3, 2023, 2:08 PMUpdated on Sep 3, 2023 at 8:46 PM
Inflation also hits the Restos du Coeur. The association created by Coluche in 1985, which distributes food aid to the poorest, has announced that it will reduce the number of its beneficiaries next winter for lack of means. About 150,000 people could no longer have access to it.
“Today, we are not strong enough to absorb the flow of people who need food aid”, regretted Patrice Douret, the association’s president. “If nothing is done, we could have to close within three years,” he warned.
In the wake of Sunday evening, in the TF1 newspaper, the Minister of Solidarity Aurore Bergé promised 15 million euros in additional aid, as well as an envelope of 6 million euros for associations helping young children by the distribution of diapers and infant food. The minister launched a “solemn appeal to large companies” for “help for the most fragile”.
Before this announcement, manufacturers had already responded to the association’s call for help. The Groupement Les Mousquetaires, which operates the Intermarché and Netto stores, has announced the implementation of special collection operations in consultation with the Restos du Coeur by the end of the year. The group also promised “significant donations from the 56 production units” in a press release.
The Carrefour brand, partner of the Restos du Coeur for 16 years, “will answer the call”, announced its CEO Alexandre Bompard on BFM TV, with financial aid or donations and collections.
More and more beneficiaries
The Restos du Coeur are overwhelmed because of the “very significant increase” in the number of people who are now using food aid. They are also faced with an “increase in operating costs” linked to inflation.
Patrice Douret launched Sunday “an appeal to the political and economic forces of our country” for the “launch of a food emergency plan” at the microphone of TF1. The association has already welcomed 1.3 million people in 2023, compared to 1.1 million for the whole of 2022. And in recent months, its budget for food purchases, then redistributed free of charge to beneficiaries, has doubled. .
“It’s really heartbreaking, but we’re going to have to massively say no to people we could have taken in before inflation, and we’re going to have to reduce the amount of what we give to people who fit our criteria.” , lamented the president of the association.
Clearly, the amount of remaining to live to be eligible for Restos du Coeur will be lowered. But despite this measure, the association needs an additional 35 million euros to end the financial year in balance.
“Not heard enough”
It expects to serve 170 million meals this year, up from 140 million last year. Its director also expressed his anger, explaining that he had been asking the government for help for months. “We have not been heard enough,” he said. The Restos du Coeur provide 35% of food aid in France, with a budget of 200 million euros per year from donations from individuals, companies and public aid.
The oppositions of left and right relayed these remarks. Mathilde Panot, the leader of the LFI deputies, announced on X (formerly Twitter) that her party would file “a food emergency plan” in the coming days.
On the side of the Republicans, the president of Hauts-de-France, Xavier Bertrand, promised, on the same social network, that the region would be “at the rendezvous of the call for Restos du Coeur”, also claiming, an emergency food plan. The vice-president of the Assembly Sébastien Chenu (Rassemblement National) reacted by incriminating “those who have governed us for so long”.
With AFP
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