NÎMES An Open Table and a heart that big!

With more than 9,000 meals and 11,000 parcels distributed, La Table Ouverte is a societal nugget that helps residents of the popular Richelieu district

Help the most deprived and in a situation of great precariousness. Responding to the vital needs of people in terms of food, hygiene and integration… These are the avowed challenges taken up by the Table Ouverte association located at 44 de la rie Richelieu in Nîmes.

In the inner courtyard of this house in the Richelieu district, a young helper. Francis, a saint. At 16, he had nothing to do during his school holidays so he came to help out. “I do some voluntary work, it’s nice! The first time I came with my aunt but there is also my grandmother who helps the association. I love helping people and above all, I love seeing their smile!“A saint I tell you.

Monique, beneficiary who wished her 70th birthday at the beginning of February is happy to have found this address. For her, the Open Table is more than a table and more than an opening.

“I come mainly for the food because I live a bit in misery and my small pension prevents me, for two euros, from being helped. At the Cercle de l’Avenir, they told me to come here because I didn’t even have a euro left to live on… Christian Bastid did what was necessary for me to come and eat here.“

That’s for the practical, pragmatic side. But Monique comes here to nourish herself intellectually. “I like to come to see people, to chat with them. Without the open table where I come every morning to have breakfast, I would miss all of this…“

A distant daughter and son, Monique has lived alone for 40 years. “I like this atmosphere, here we don’t just give you food! The volunteers are understanding, they don’t judge you, you feel like roosters!“

On Tuesdays in the summer, she picks up her weekly package. Winter is different. “We feel treated like everyone else, that’s good. Without criticizing because I went there for eight years, I prefer here than the Restos du Cœur. I have honestly never found any help equivalent to that provided by the Open Table!“

But all this help comes at a cost. Before talking about the budget, let’s talk about actions. In 2021, the Open Table involved a whopping 240 women and 359 men, i.e. 599 people! Humble people, deprived but who want to keep their dignity. In 2021 and then in 2022, State subsidies for the Open Table logically increase to reach last year and thanks to an inflated envelope on food aid, the DDETS allocated a subsidy of 35,000 euros.

Open Table has nearly forty volunteers and three part-time employees. Rising prices are a new problem for President Jean-Pierre Vergniol. Approved on August 4, 2017 for a period of 10 years, his association is experiencing problems rarely observed.

The welcome, the listening, the exchanges are the basis of the subject. The breakfasts offered and the meals at one euro, without counting on the food parcels, the parcels of hygiene products, or even the free showers and the donations of small furniture and crockery have a certain cost.

Outside the summer season, meals can be taken away or consumed on site. In summer, the weekly distribution of food parcels is set up. Who comes here? A major audience with a majority of men, single people, nearly 100 retirees, more than 200 RSA or AAH beneficiaries, people living on the street and a few young people with broken families.

Last year, 699 showers were taken and 800 items of clothing and household linen distributed. Finally, 1,970 towels were washed on site. Necessary needs, those which make the difference in human beings and animals. Here, Man is seen in all his greatness while he is at the bottom of the social ladder. Here, no one is forgotten.

For Jean-Pierre Vergniol, “As volunteers, before, we had many retirees but now we have more young people. Unfortunately for us, they find work and do not stay long with us. The Arap Rubis association also helps us and we often have asylum seekers who come to spin their hands. In fact we take all those who want to take care of others. When they come, they know why.“

Open five days a week, excluding weekends and public holidays, the Open Table serves between 50 and 60 meals a day. “For the first time we used the city contract to try to go out to visit Nîmes, to go to Grau-du-Roi to see the sea or to Pont-du-Gard! We would also like to participate in the neighbours’ party, we have to help people have fun, to make them see other things, elsewhere“concludes President Vergniol.

Anthony Maurin