Bourdelle High School in Montauban Transfers Unused Furniture to Ukraine with OccItalien Association Assistance

The ballet of volunteers is well calibrated. A team takes care, on the third floor, to bring the heavy furniture to the elevator. Box springs, mattresses, desks and cupboards are thus lowered to the ground floor by the device, before being loaded into a huge heavy weight. A second team receives them before bringing them to the “ass” of the truck, as the popular expression puts it. There, new volunteers from the OccItalien association store them in a coordinated way, so as not to lose any space.

In the same space, two young people are armed with a notepad and a pen. They are responsible for taking inventory so as not to forget anything. And then there are the courageous people who are responsible for shuttles between the boarding school floor and the truck, to transport the chairs and bedposts with their bare hands. Their foreheads and their clothes are gradually moistened in the heaviness and dampness of this summer morning.

Furniture donated to an establishment in Dolyna

At the Bourdelle high school in Montauban, in Tarn-et-Garonne, it’s time for the big move on Tuesday June 6, 2023. An incredible surge of solidarity has been put in place, with the help of the management of the establishment, the Occitan association and the Occitanie region. The old furniture that was used to house the boarding students during their weeks of lessons will take, as soon as the loading is finished, the direction of Ukraine. Specifically the city of Dolyna, in western Ukraine, located 120 km south of Lviv.

“It’s a story where all the planets have aligned, welcomes Pascal Serrier, the president of OccItalien, who has just returned from Ukraine. the technical manager of the school, Laurent Marcheix, called me a few years ago. weeks to ask me if there were not needs in Ukraine because he knew our action. And, very quickly, everything was superbly linked, “continues the Montalbanais. In total, 80 individual kits (bed, box spring, mattress, desk, chair and wardrobe) will be received in Ukraine.

Forty volunteers for an XXL move

But first of all, it was necessary to respect the procedures in force for the establishments managed by the Occitanie region. “We put the furniture on the regional exchange stock exchange. But no other high school was interested in upgrading them. So the Region agreed to show solidarity”, welcomes, all smiles, Laurent Marcheix. And here is the operation launched. “In just a few days, all the details have been settled, savors the principal of the largest high school in the Toulouse academy in terms of staff, Marie-Thérèse de Oña.

Result: around forty volunteers, members of OccItalien, students and teachers of the high school, wet the jersey for this XXL move, Tuesday, June 6. Among these small hands and his laden arms, there are those of Oleksii. This operation has a particular resonance for the young man of 18 years. Because he knows the damage inherent in the invasion of Ukraine by Russia.

“I don’t have the words to explain what I feel,” said Oleksii, 18, who had to leave Ukraine after the outbreak of war and took refuge in Montauban.

More than a year ago, he left his country, two weeks after the arrival of the conflict in his territory. He will put his suitcases in France and study at the Bourdelle high school. In good French, despite some hesitation, he expresses his emotion: “It’s extraordinary to see so much solidarity taking place. I don’t have the words to explain what I feel. It’s very important to participate to this type of action. I obviously miss Ukraine, my country. But if I can help those who remained there, from a distance, I am happy”, explains Oleksii.

After a well-deserved little break, the young major jumps into the semi-trailer again. Loading is not complete. It will last a good part of the day.