Allow the most precarious to warm up despite the winter cold. This is the goal of the dozen or so volunteers from the Restos du Cœur, this December 22, during a meal distribution organized on the forecourt of the Sainte-Jeanne d’Arc church in Orléans. In their van, they had soup and hot dishes, but also clothes to donate to people in need.
“I planned a little wider than usual”, explains Antoine, a volunteer at Restos du Cœur for eight years and responsible for “Wednesday group”. “I took parkas, leggings to put under the pants because it keeps you warm, but also gloves, hats, scarves, and a few duvets”, he explains.
Elooan *, for example, was able to recover “a sleeping bag, to have enough to sleep”. Ben, for his part, was able to equip himself with “socks, hat, scarf … Enough to keep me warm for the night. It feels good, because right now, it’s curdling anyway”, he emphasizes. And the volunteers got it right by planning more clothes hot: in one hour of distribution, “it’s all gone”, confirms Antoine.
Christmas dinner and gifts this Friday in Orléans
This Wednesday, the volunteers feared that the cold does not prevent some from coming to distribution. “Because the homeless, who already spend all day outside, tend not to go out at night when it is so cold and they have found shelter. And the most precarious who have a home, it is is the same thing. They prefer to go without eating “, regrets Clémentine, responsible for the “street people” activity of the Restos du Cœur du Loiret. Corn “people came anyway, we have around 35 people”, she says.
This December 24 in the evening, the association will organize another distribution, more festive this time. “It will be a classic distribution, to which we will add Christmas decoration on the tables, with music”, explains Clémentine. “There will also be festive food, like toast with foie gras, salmon … Champomy too, because we don’t serve alcohol” at the Restos du Cœur. Without forgetting “a Christmas present” per person, continues the volunteer: “In each package, we put a chocolate, a warm piece of clothing and a little something extra like a book”. The association has planned to distribute 80 gifts this December 24 in Orléans.
* The first name has been changed