Europe 1 with AFP 7:02 p.m., March 01, 2023

In the space of a year, the number of people welcomed to the Restos du Cœur jumped by 22% during the "first three months" of the 2022/2023 winter campaign.

Moreover, more than half of the beneficiaries are aged under 25 and the association has noted an increase in the number of very young children.

The number of people welcomed to the Restos du Cœur jumped by 22% during the "first three months" of the 2022/2023 winter campaign compared to last year, the association said on Tuesday, which notes a sharp increase. families with very young children.

Over one year, food distributions in the public space - solidarity canteens, day reception, marauding - "recorded an increase of 25%" over one year, declared the president of the association, Patrice Douret, during a press conference.

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Single-parent families, mainly single women with children, represent a quarter of the people received and their number has increased by 21% over one year.

More than half of the people welcomed by the Restos du Cœur are under 25 years old.

“Inflation and the energy crisis are hitting hard on those who were precarious and others who are becoming so,” commented Patrice Douret.

The association welcomes "more and more people who work, but whom the price increase has caused to fall into a fragility that they did not have".

110,000 children under three in November

The association noted during the winter an increase in the number of very young children, within families helped by the Restos du Cœur: there were 110,000 children under the age of three in November and their number increased by 16% in three month.

From March 3 to 5, the Restos volunteer teams will be present in more than 7,000 supermarkets throughout France to collect food and hygiene products.

The objective of the association, created in 1985 by Coluche, is to collect 9,000 tonnes of foodstuffs and hygiene products, "even if we do not forget the difficulties of the French to fill their trolley for themselves" , says Patrice Douret.