The Secours Populaire Français (first network of volunteers) non-profit association. – SYSPEO / SIPA
Milk, cereals, sugar. The Secours populaire is running out of stocks for several of the twelve essential products that make up the food aid packages distributed each month to 15,000 families in Bouches-du-Rhône. “Today, we are short of a month and a half of stocks, including 116 pallets of milk,” warns Virginie Bursi, in charge of communication and youth mobilization within Secours populaire 13.
The Bouches-du-Rhône federation is therefore launching a major appeal for help to institutions, businesses and private donors. A jackpot was launched online via social media. The objective is to make new purchases to supplement the insufficient stocks, that is to say a total of 416 pallets which are missing. In June, the packages should only have 10 products. And before the next annual budget allocation, 16,800 packages may not be distributed to nearly 72,000 people who have difficulty accessing basic products.
“Thresholds never reached”
“The 45% increase in demand, observed in the department during the first confinement, has not decreased,” explains Virginie Bursi. Despite the readjustment of the Fund for European Aid to the Most Deprived, the quantity of our stocks is decreasing and will not be sufficient to meet growing demand. “
Secours populaire 13, which has 93 branches in Marseille, has opened 17 new sites to cover new needs. “The Covid-19 crisis has tipped new people into precariousness: precarious workers, single-parent families affected by short-time working, people awaiting regularization of their situation, and students”, notes the Federation, for whom “the the number of families registered in our branches and committees is now reaching new levels ”.