The food bank’s solidarity baskets are back. Since the health crisis, the association had had to learn to reinvent itself to meet the growing needs of food. In 2020, she had opened a possibility of online donations in the form of “coupons”. An initiative renewed since November 15, with the approach of the big national collection of the last weekend of the month. Mireille Bréchet, president of the Haute-Vienne food bank, insists on the importance of these donations.
One euro of donations allows us to collect eight euros of donations
“Online donations allow us to have products that really meet our local needs. The many associations we appeal to have very specific requests that we never receive in fundraising.” Microwaveable plates or diapers for babies, the most popular basic necessities are not always food. Mireille Bréchet also underlines that donations make it possible to increase foodstuffs tenfold: “one euro in donations allows us to collect eight euros worth of food. The reason is simple, when it is the food bank that goes to the store, the managers tend to provide us with double the product. ”
For some food banks, donations also allow the association to better manage its stocks. This is particularly the case in Limoges ” At the moment, we have space problems which make the work of warehouse logistics very time consuming. At the moment, fresh or frozen products are difficult to store. ”
A system of “coupons” online and in stores
Available until January on the monpaniersolidaire.org site, online donations also extend the period of solidarity with the association. The amount given can be free, or take the form of a virtual coupon. This ranges from € 6 to € 137 and corresponds to a themed basket defined by an “equivalence grid”: hygiene kit, breakfast, baby product, student pack… This voucher system has also been set up in stores for € 2. “Customers can checkout them as many times as they want and thus
In 2020, the latter enabled the Limoges food bank to collect a prize pool of 30,000 euros in addition to the 80 tonnes of food received.