Secours Populaire de Gironde is launching a new food collection campaign this Friday, October 17 and Saturday, October 18. The association is facing an increase in beneficiaries due to the economic context: 25,000 people regularly go to Secours populaire.
Their blue vests will once again be visible in Gironde supermarkets on October 17 and 18. At the start of autumn, Secours Populaire de Gironde is relaunching two days of food collection to replenish its stocks of food, hygiene and childcare products. “We especially need nutritious foods such as ready meals and preserves.“, introduces Denis Laulan, general secretary of Secours Populaire de Gironde.
Between 20,000 and 25,000 people are beneficiaries of Secours Populaire in Gironde. A figure which jumped after Covid, and which increases slightly each year. “The audience affected is diversifying. We have more and more young people and seniors“, regrets the Secretary General, even if those most concerned remain single-parent families.
Long-life hygiene products are also coveted, because the association has few partnerships with manufacturers. Same thing for items in the children’s departments, where prices are skyrocketing.
The association’s objective is to offer these foods self-service to beneficiaries, instead of providing packages. “We want them to choose rather than distribute. We already apply it, in the name of respect for these people“, guarantees Denis Laulan.
Donations are all the more necessary as the geopolitical and economic context does not make the task of volunteers easier. “Wars do not favor the general atmosphere. And economically, we have more and more subsidies cut“, deplores Denis Laulan, even if these compensations only represent 10% of the budget of Secours Populaire Gironde.
That of the Departmental Council, in the grip of serious financial difficulties, halved between 2024 and this year. “We also lost a subsidy for hygiene products of 50,000 euros. If we want to continue with donations, we must collect them ourselves. You have to arbitrate“, decides the secretary general.
In total, fifteen collection points are available in supermarkets in Gironde this Friday and Saturday, October 17 and 18. The association is also calling for volunteers to strengthen the Bordeaux teams to optimize the arrival of these new stocks.
