The French association Restos du Cœur began this Tuesday the food distribution campaign for this winter. Single mothers, retirees, employees with precarious salaries and students are some of the profiles of people who most ask Restos du Cœur for help.
Yves Merillon, spokesperson for the association, explains the difficulties it faces this year. “The crisis, which brought many people to our meeting, also affected us, because we do a lot of shopping and inflation has greatly affected food and energy costs. In three years, our purchasing budget has doubled, which which makes this situation truly unsustainable,” he described.
Last year, 1.1 million people asked for food aid. This year, the number increased even more. “In one year, we received more than 200,000 requests for help,” says Yves Merillon.
60% of the households that ask for help live on less than 550 euros per month. For the first time in the association’s history, Restos du Coeur will reject requests for help.
“It is extremely difficult for people who ask for help because we are going to have to reject requests for food aid for the first time. And it is very difficult for the volunteers themselves, for whom it is extremely difficult to make these types of decisions,” describes the spokesperson for the Restos du Cœur association.
Aid is also restricted: starting this Tuesday, four weekly meals are allocated instead of last year’s six, smaller food baskets and one liter of milk instead of two, for example.
Half of the people who request food aid from Restos du Cœur are under 25 years old: of them, 40% are minors.
“That is why we try to develop a policy to help the youngest, because the worst that can happen is that the poor of today are the poor of tomorrow. Therefore, we must do everything possible to ensure that children from families those we help can escape poverty,” argues Yves Merillon.
The head of the Poissy association, in the Paris region, Chantal Buisso, regrets that the number of people needing food aid will decrease this year. “We will reject applications. This winter we will not be able to help 5 to 10% of the people who come to us.”
The Restos du Cœur association, which provides 35% of the food aid allocated in France, recovers 60% of food donations between November and December, but for now, and given inflation, it is difficult to predict what the amount of donations from the French. It will be this winter.
Source: TSF
