The day after the call for help launched by Romain Colucci, Coluche’s son, to raise funds with the fourth edition of Radio Restos, for the benefit of Restos du coeur, it was the general delegate of the association who sounded the alarm.
“We are going to refuse people for the first time in historye”
Heard at the National Assembly on October 4, 2023, Jean-Yves Troy explained that restaurants were facing a massive and brutal crisis, which forced them to make very unpleasant choices. In fact, he says:“The Restos du Cœur are not sized today to distribute 170 million meals, to accommodate 1.3 million people”.
This is why he asked the finance committee of the National Assembly to make an effort to be able to help a greater number of people in need (and this despite the donation of 10 million euros from Bernard Arnault) . Backing up the figures, the manager has already explained how much the volunteers had pushed the walls for years.
Indeed, in front of the deputies, he compiled: “We ended winter 2022-2023 with a 25% increase in people welcomed”before an increase in “35% between April and September 2023″. And to admit: “We are no longer cut out to meet the needs” before announcing, with regret: “From November, we will refuse people for the first time in historye”.
A big turning point
Bad news in many respects, since he adds that from now on, to stick to the budget, the association will be obliged to give less to the beneficiaries of food aid, and to tighten the criteria for access to this aid. And yet, “there may be more people who will be eligible”precisely because of the crisis.
F.A.