The Covid puts the Restos du Cœur just in time
Audio 02:34
During this distribution in Sarcelles, the Restos du Cœur helped 340 families.
A net increase compared to 2019. © Thomas Giraudeau / RFI
By: Thomas Giraudeau Follow
7 min
It is perhaps one of the most difficult winter campaigns to start for Restaurants du Cœur.
From this Tuesday, November 24, all the food aid centers of the association open their doors, intended for the most vulnerable.
And they expect a “tidal wave” of misery.
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Because of the health and economic crisis due to Covid-19, the Resto centers in the Paris region, for example, are helping 50% more people compared to last year.
And to serve them, there are fewer and fewer volunteers.
Retirees prefer to stay at home and not risk being exposed to the virus.
Not to mention concerns about stocks.
Will they be enough to keep everyone hungry this winter?
Report in the center of the Restos du Cœur de Sarcelles, in a popular suburb of Paris.
In her shopping bag, Drissia Rafik piles up some food, soup, milk and cakes.
Enough to take 2, 3 days for this mother, unemployed since this spring.
“
I was cleaning, here and there, without being declared, before confinement.
Since then, no one accepts that I come to her place.
If I don't go here, to the Restaurants, what do I eat
?
Nothing
!
"
Beneficiaries like her, Marie-Claude Crozas sees a lot in her Center des Restos, in Sarcelles.
60,000 inhabitants, a third living below the poverty line according to INSEE in 2017. And surely more this year.
“
This summer, I registered
1,300 families.
Usually I have 900, she describes.
First of all, I think that there are a lot of people who no longer touch CAF.
And then people don't get their salaries.
The boss paid partial unemployment at the start of the confinement, and now he no longer pays it.
Cooks, housekeepers.
Today, they come because they have nothing left.
"
Civic services to relieve elderly volunteers
Additional difficulty, this influx of new beneficiaries must be managed while respecting exceptional health measures, Covid requires.
In this old gymnasium, there is enough room to respect the distances, to create a sense of circulation.
The beneficiaries first arrive in front of the frozen food stand, run by Dalila Tiguemounine.
"
With the Covid, I am suddenly in short-time work, a blow at work
",
explains this forty-something, volunteer since October.
“
I was a little bored at home, so I thought I was going to help others.
Here, we need manpower, especially with the Covid.
Many volunteers hesitate, no longer come, are afraid.
Here, when I arrived, the majority were retired.
"
Several young girls are now distributing food.
They were engaged in civic service just before the winter campaign.
Françoise is relieved.
This retiree has been volunteering at Restos de Sarcelles for two years.
"
There, we have the impression that it's still pretty cool, we are not totally overwhelmed
",
she believes.
“
But we had very hot periods.
In May-June, we were half less because of the desertion of the volunteers.
And there we were very tired at the end of the day.
"
Lack of baby products
?
In baby products, Danielle Lainé sees another problem coming on the horizon, that of stocks.
"
On the small pots, normally, I give 6 per week to babies between 6 and 12 months
", she says.
“
Last week, I gave just one more to have for everyone.
It is true that we must be vigilant enough and cry for help so that there is responsiveness.
"
The departmental warehouses of the Restos du Cœur thus deliver foodstuffs urgently to the centers in need.
But for how long?
The president of the association is worried about next winter.
When the consequences of the economic crisis will still be there and the solidarity of supermarkets and donors will have fallen.
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