The 37th Restos du Cœur campaign begins this week

For the past few days, we have been busy in the local Restaurants du Cœur Saint-Lois on rue de l’Yser.

Everything must be ready by Thursday morning at 9 a.m., when the center opens. The premises have been enlarged this year with a new room to better accommodate beneficiaries in this period of Covid.

Some volunteers of the association therefore find themselves with brushes in hand to give a little freshness to this old industrial building.

From Thursday, 300 Saint-Loises families will receive the first meals of this 37th winter campaign of the Restos du Cœur which will last until mid-March. Last year, we started with the same number of beneficiaries and ended up with 450 families, ie around a thousand people and 75,000 meals distributed.

“We do not come to this just to take care of ourselves, we have a good spirit towards others, explains Solange, one of the volunteers”

To accommodate all these families, the Saint-Lô center has around fifty volunteers who are committed to come at least once a week. The vast majority are retirees. “Everyone has their position according to their abilities”, explains Claude Duguey, the center manager. “There are people who will rather do handling, while others who will support distribution.”

Solange Charpentier has been a volunteer at the Restos du Cœur de Saint-Lô since her retirement two years ago. For her and her husband, it was a logical commitment to help people in difficulty. “I didn’t know anyone when I arrived”, explains Solange. For her, it was also an opportunity to make new acquaintances with the other volunteers. “This is all the more important when we find ourselves facing families in great difficulty. We see people crying in front of us. This moment of difficult times. We therefore need empathy towards these people “, says Solange.

Being a volunteer also means respecting the rules of the association created by Coluche by signing a commitment charter. A charter accepted without problem by Solange Charpentier who very quickly found her place among the other volunteers with very specific tasks.

With the Covid, the reception of families has been reorganized in this center. The beneficiaries have time slots to come and collect their meals and of course the wearing of a mask is compulsory in the premises. Six to seven families are therefore welcomed every quarter of an hour every Thursday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. and on Friday from 1.30 p.m. to 5 p.m. in this Saint-Lô center.