The general director of the Food Bank, Laurence Champier, indicates on France Bleu that certain young beneficiaries “have 2 to 3 euros per day to feed themselves”.
The Food Bank welcomes 19% of people under 25, a situation “which accelerated” notes Laurence Champier, general director of the Food Bank, guest on the show Ma France on France Bleu on Thursday September 14.
“We noticed a very significant increase, before the Covid crisis, but which has accelerated. Today, we welcome 19% of people who are under 25 years old, in food aid structures, with our partners or in our own structures”, counts Laurence Champier. The Food Bank supports 500,000 young people. “When university restaurants are closed, we have to find parallel solutions. We support 160 student systems across France, with packages, student grocery stores, itinerant systems that go from campus to campus,” describes the general director.
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The Food Bank is also launching a “network of student social grocery stores food bank”. A first was created more than ten years ago in Bourges (Cher) but “we realize that we have to move from urgency to something much more structured”indicates the director who confides having “a very strong demand from public authorities and a certain number of students who want to support us in the co-production of projects. So we created one in Clermont-Ferrand (Puy-de-Dôme) which welcomes 150 people per day , throughout the week, welcomed by students and volunteers”.
“The second item of expenditure now is food and we find ourselves with young people who come to food aid structures who have 2 or 3 euros per day to be able to feed themselves and we know that this is very difficult, even with a 1 euro meal, to eat properly and with dignity.”
The food bank also had to broaden its skills by also providing social support, because there are “many young people in a situation of isolation, for whom it is very difficult to say that they need help”.