At Restos du Coeur, queues are getting longer due to the health crisis

Food distribution in Orleans, March 26, 2020, during containment. Christophe ARCHAMBAULT / AFP

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Since mid-March, requests for food aid have exploded, a consequence of the confinement linked to the coronavirus epidemic. The associations note an increase of approximately 50% of applicants. After the health crisis, they fear a social crisis.

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The queues in front of the Restos du Coeur centers are getting longer. Without a school canteen for their children, many parents who are not used to asking for these aids now go to the distributions.

They are not the only ones to experience this sad reality, explains Patrice Blanc, the volunteer president of Restos du Coeur. We see people appear that we didn't see before," he notes. This is for example the case of students, this is the case of middle-aged men who had precarious odd jobs, intermittent workers, seasonal workers and then also a whole group of people who were at work to undeclared black people, who no longer have these possibilities. "

Unemployment insurance reform that could make matters worse

France recorded a 22.6% increase in category A job seekers , that is to say without any activity in April 2020. This is for Patrice Blanc an indicator of what will happen in the coming months. "  There is a great fear: that the unemployment insurance reform, if it is applied from September, will significantly reduce the resources of a group of unemployed," he explains. And we also see them flocking to Restos du Coeur.  "

The associations predict that by the end of the year 8 million people will use food aid. It is three million more than before the health crisis.

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  • France
  • Poverty
  • Coronavirus
  • Confinement
  • Food
  • Economic crisis

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