McDonald's in Saint-Barthélémy, the epicenter of solidarity in the northern districts of Marseille.

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Adrien Max / 20 Minutes

  • The volunteers mobilized at McDonald's in Saint-Barthélemy, in the northern districts of Marseille (Bouches-du-Rhône), continue to distribute around 3,500 food parcels per week.

  • In addition to food packages, the volunteers have diversified into school support and the distribution of school supplies, in particular.

  • They want to see further and create a restaurant to train the inhabitants of the area, and use any profits to support the associations that would continue their actions.

“We went from the stomach to the brain”.

Salim Grasbi, from the Syndicat des Quartiers Popular de Marseille, always has the right formula to describe the work that he and dozens of volunteers do every day at McDonald's in Saint-Barthélemy, in the northern districts of Marseille.

Since April 6, in the middle of a period of confinement, former McDonald's employees requisitioned the restaurant to transform it into an epicenter of solidarity.

McDonald's volunteers, accompanied by some fifty associations established in the neighborhoods, continue their distribution of food parcels: “about 3,500 parcels per week, or about 14,000 people are fed every week, with a rotation in each neighborhood. in eight days, ”explains one of the volunteers.

And since this summer, strings have been added to their bow.

School support and sports activities

In addition to the distribution of food packages, the volunteers offered school support to the children, they made them do sports activities, and have managed the distribution of school supplies since the start of the school year.

“It's the kids who have died the most, with empty fridges, overcrowded apartments, the digital divide, boredom.

The containment has been a real carnage for them.

If families do not already have enough to eat, imagine school supplies, ”says Salim.

Thanks to the association Le Grand Bleu, and to an envelope of money released by the prefecture, 300 children were able to discover water activities, such as kayaking, paddle boarding, initiations in ecology, every week.

“We also provided tutoring in the North, Simone Veil and Antonin Artaud high schools.

More than 200 young dropouts were welcomed, with new forms of teaching, to restore their self-confidence, with teachers from these neighborhoods.

They have their heads in the know, and their feet in the neighborhoods, it creates a dynamic with these little ones.

We also had high school students integrate “stables” to prepare medicine, ”explains Salim.

Sandrine in the middle of school supplies collected last weekend.

- Adrien Max / 20 Minutes

" Collective intelligence "

Last weekend, a collection of school supplies was organized by Sandrine, a resident of the city center mobilized for various causes, in the 7th arrondissement of Marseille.

"The objective is not to put forward this or that association, but to be hand in hand, in the form of an alliance, to overcome the north / south divide by helping all Marseillais", explains. she.

"We have set up a collective intelligence which has become a real war machine of solidarity," adds Kamel Guemari, the former deputy director of the restaurant.

He even recovered a photo booth with the possibility of making 10,000 prints for the children's photos.

"We have already taken more than 50 photos, it is for poor families, for families of undocumented migrants, they can come and take their photos for their procedures," he says.

Kamel recovered a photo booth for the identity photos of the poorest.

- Adrien Max / 20 Minutes

If donations are starting to become scarce, Salim welcomes the provision of 35,000 sanitary napkins offered by the association Règle elementaire.

But everyone here wishes to go further, despite the great fatigue that has inhabited them since the start of the mobilization.

"We no longer even know if we have children, a family, it's exhausting, we too would sometimes need help," says Salim.

Salim Grasbi and McDonald's volunteers have just received a donation of 35,000 sanitary napkins.

- Adrien Max / 20 Minutes

Training need

And to go further, the main thing is training.

“This McDonald's was a bit of a neighborhood square, we saw nearly 100 employees pass by each year, we trained them, and if they did not do the trick we directed them to training, it was a bit the employment center in these neighborhoods, ”says Kamel.

“Without a job and without training, failure is guaranteed,” says Salim.

They therefore want to see further, and create a cooperative society of common interest in order to find a lasting future for restaurants.

“We created a preconfiguration association called 'After', we wrote to the new municipality and an appointment is scheduled with the legal consultant of McDonald's.

We were also contacted by Michelin-starred chefs to provide training and set up a menu.

We would like any profits generated by the restaurant to be able to be redistributed to associations which will continue to help populations, ”explains Salim.

They are optimistic that the project will see the light of day by the end of the year.

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  • Solidarity

  • Marseilles

  • Coronavirus

  • Society

  • Northern districts

  • Mcdonalds