This year, 2023, marks the 39th winter campaign for Restos du Cœur. But the association, in debt, had to resolve to reduce the number of beneficiaries and meals distributed. A heartbreak for the volunteers.
“Frankly, at 1.27 euros per liter of milk, I no longer have the right,” regrets Nathalie Poulalion. This year 2023, the situation is changing for this beneficiary of Restos du Cœur. It now only has seven points, compared to nine last year, to collect food at the association’s Niort center. “It’s always better than nothing.”, she estimates, moving between the different shelves. This drop in the scale is immediately visible in his shopping cart of foodstuffs: in the fruit and vegetable section, after receiving a few potatoes, he does not have much choice left.
For the 39th winter campaign, which began on November 21, 2023, the association had to resolve to reduce the number of beneficiaries and therefore the number of meals distributed. On a national level, Restos du Cœur served 30 million additional meals and welcomed 200,000 additional people.
Because of inflation and the war in Ukraine, Restos du Cœur spent an additional 35 million euros in 2022 to buy food. The registration conditions have therefore been modified and fewer people will be able to benefit from meal donations.
The decision was very difficult to make for the association, as Marie-Claude Moueix, deputy departmental manager responsible for volunteer training, explains: “The people welcomed last year for the winter campaign will not be welcomed this year for food aid. We will leave a certain number of people behind.
The number of beneficiaries will drop by 15 to 20%.
Marie-Claude MoueixDeputy departmental manager for Deux-Sèvres
The consequences are dramatic for certain former beneficiaries, whose re-registration is now refused. Sitting on a bench in front of the Niort center, Katia Mignot, unemployed due to health problems, was refused a food package. “We are no longer allowed to eat in fact. I was told to come back on December 5. But what do I eat between today and December 5?”she is indignant.
Read also : “We had to apply a more restrictive scale”: the Restos du Cœur began to refuse families
Faced with Katia Mignot’s distress, Annie-Laurence Fourel, president of Restos du Cœur des Deux-Sèvres, decides on an exceptional basis to have an emergency food package prepared for her. Only a temporary solution. “Sans restriction, at the moment, in not even three years, the Restaurants no longer exist”she insists. “It’s unfair to refuse people, but we can’t do anything else to last.”
We couldn’t continue like this, otherwise we would close the door.
Annie-Laurence FourelPresident of Restos du Cœur des Deux-Sèvres
The association must refuse beneficiaries, but also reduce the number of meals, which goes from six meals to two per week. Josiane Cailbaut registered two months ago. This is the first time that the retiree has gone to Restos du Cœur. She calls “people who can do it to give” but seems resigned: “I receive a small pension, ten times nothing, I am happy to come here to have freshness, kindness. We will eat less, a meal at lunchtime and a yogurt in the evening.”
“You shouldn’t complain, it’s free. We’re happy with what we have. But it’s true that it’s better when it’s more stuffed”smiles Nathalie Poulalion. “I’m not complaining, it’s a pleasure to come here every time.”
When choosing from the shelves, Nathalie Poulalion hesitates between “puff or shortcrust pastry, I am Madame Gâteau.” She follows volunteer Pascal Thin, who admits to having “Heart hurts. We have the impression of always saying no, it’s a shame. But we can’t do otherwise, we make do with what we have. We have the impression of distributing less, of giving less pleasure .”
Marie-Claude Moueix, deputy departmental manager responsible for volunteer training, would like to point out that “Free reception remains unconditional around a coffee corner, the cloakroom. Donating clothes can free up money to buy food.” She also calls on other mutual aid associations to take care of people refused at Restos du Cœur, to provide them with additional food aid despite everything.
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