Clothing, shower gels, toys, school supplies, hygiene products… The mayor of the 4th and 5th arrondissements of Marseille has taken on the appearance of a solidarity collection point since Tuesday. After the drama that occurred on Tivoli Street on the night of Saturday to Sunday, a total of two hundred residents were evacuated and eighty-nine of them are still being accommodated in emergency hotels.
In a context of great material distress, for many collateral victims of the tragedy that has affected the Camas district for four days, the city hall had no choice but to set up this emergency unit. “This Tuesday, first thing in the morning and at the request of Benoît Payan, we opened the doors of the town hall of the 4th and 5th arrondissements in order to respond to the distress of neighborhood associations and local residents”, confides Marie Froideval, the head office of the sector town hall. The goal? Serve as a single point of collection and sorting, in order to organize an efficient redistribution to the Samu Social and the CCAS (Central Fund for Social Activities).
Clothing and supplies
“I prepared this bag of things thinking of these poor people,” confides Nora*, a donor and resident of the Camas district who arrives at the town hall. “I wondered what I would need in their place and I prepared this bag accordingly”. In her backpack, Nora even slipped turkey breast, cereals or compote. She will unfortunately leave with it. “We cannot accept any perishable foodstuffs, only clothing and supplies,” replies Samy*, a volunteer in charge of collecting donations. “In everything we collect, around 15% goes in the trash, because it is too worn out to be redistributed”, raises the young man.
Here, it is the elected officials and municipal employees who guide visitors, sort donations and tirelessly pack up deposited belongings. “Since Tuesday, we have noticed a huge mobilization, it has been going on all day,” observes Enora Naour, general manager of the town hall of the 4th and 5th arrondissements of Marseille.
Three tons of donations
She doesn’t believe so well. At the beginning of the afternoon, a van parks in front of the town hall. On board, two thirty-year-olds who came directly from the Plain Brewery, a craft beer shop located in the eponymous district and adjoining that of Camas. “We are coming to deliver supplies and clothes to you, but we are quite busy,” the young man shyly declares in the hall of the town hall. In a few minutes, about twenty boxes, all full to the brim, will be unloaded. “We centralized all the donations from our friends and residents of the Plain until we could fill the van,” he explains in full maneuver.
“We estimate the amount of donations received since Tuesday at around three tonnes with four full truck departures,” reveals Enora Naour. Donations will follow a specific path. For new and still packaged hygiene products, head to the Vallier gymnasium, a sports complex in the 4th arrondissement that has become an emergency reception center for victims. For the rest (clothing, toys, supplies, etc.), mandatory passage through the Samu Social tents for an anti-chip and bed bug treatment. “Given the great generosity of the Marseillais, it is even possible that part of the donations will be redistributed to associations in the region”, concludes the director general of the town hall of the 4th and 5th arrondissements.