This Saturday, and until June 11, the national days of the French Red Cross. “An important moment which allows the financing of the local actions of the teams”, explains Marc Levy. Since September 2021, the novelist with 50 million books sold has been an ambassador for the French Red Cross. A homecoming for the one who participated in his first shift on his 18th birthday.
Marc Levy details at 20 minutes all that the Red Cross has given him and enjoins the French men and women to join the association’s volunteers.
Marc Levy, the French Red Cross and you, it’s a long story…
Yes, it started at the end of 1979 with my first roadside rescuer on my 18th birthday. I took my shift at 4:30 p.m. and since I was still 17, I was not allowed to go out until midnight, my birthday. At midnight sharp, I was in the truck! I didn’t do much for the Red Cross, but it did a lot for me. It was extraordinarily formative. Throughout my life, it has been an anchor. The Red Cross learns to shift the center of gravity from its navel to others, and in this it is extremely valuable.
How did you come to push the door of the Red Cross?
I owe it to my cousin, Rafael. We were very close. He lived at home and was a medical student. And me, I dreamed of doing medicine, unfortunately you had to be good at math and I never understood the logic of it, it was a subject to which I was very tight. Since I couldn’t do medicine, my cousin had the idea of training me for the Red Cross. I was a roadside rescuer in Hauts-de-Seine. It consisted mainly of helping road accident victims, but it was not limited to that. We also intervened on domestic violence, domestic, work or industrial accidents, help for elderly people in difficulty.
How much time did you give to the Red Cross per week when you were a student?
It was 75% the Red Cross, 25% the studies. I was studying management at Dauphine and from memory, I had three hours of classes four times a week in the morning. That’s not what I was going to occupy my days with. I spent my time at the Red Cross. There, human relations were woven, we were part of a group, there was the joy of finding ourselves doing things together. I felt good there, my friends were there. I was ten times happier spending weekends at the Red Cross than spending them clubbing or kicking a ball. Then I stopped the Red Cross, because I had to earn a living.
You have lived strong moments, others difficult. Did any of them stand out to you more?
I feel like I have more memories kept intact over these six and a half years than over decades. There are too many key moments in my life for me to look for one. There are times when our presence changed something, it brought an extraordinary reward, a humble and at the same time fabulous satisfaction. What I remember is not the extraordinary side of major accidents, they are tremendously moving moments, sometimes simply in an exchange of glances, in a hand that you hold, in the comfort that you bring to an elderly person. It is also the calmness or wisdom of this person that brings you comfort. But the violence revolts me. When you arrived in an apartment, you saw a bully having hit his wife with a motorcycle helmet, you had to take a lot on yourself to stay in your Red Cross uniform and remain neutral. This is where the team spirit is very strong. When a colleague is hurt more than usual, there is vigilance and protection, a spirit of mutual help.
Before donning the costume of the Red Cross again as ambassador in September 2021, you wore it in the series adaptation of one of your books Where are you ?….
Yes, we never leave this costume. It is something that you have within you. I’ve been around my whole life, I’ve moved so many times I’ve pretty much lost all my stuff along the way, but I still have my Red Cross badge. And yes, I found myself taking on the role of a director of the Red Cross on the set of Where are you ?. The director had asked me to be on the set in Santo Domingo. And one morning, I arrive and he says to me: “Have you been to the Red Cross? Yes why ? ” He passes me the jacket that is on the set and says to me: “It’s very good because the actor who was to play the role of director of the Red Cross has planted us, now it’s for you ! It was a small role, but I remember the joy I felt ironing that jacket. It’s a feeling of belonging.
Today you have the ambassador costume. What is your part ?
It’s just to get the Red Cross talked about as much as possible, to get its important messages across. I am a member of the association, one among 59,000, my job is communication.
What would you say to someone to join the Red Cross volunteers?
I would say to him, “This is going to be one of the most incredible and nourishing experiences of your life. Don’t hesitate for a second. You are going to live years that will always bring you more than you are going to bring. Come, really, come. And there is such a diversity of functions at the Red Cross, all horizons are open. »
You have done many quests for the Red Cross. What was your technique for obtaining a donation?
From this Saturday until June 11, it’s very important, it’s what we call national days. The Red Cross intervenes on major stages around the world, but also at home. And if it intervenes locally, it is because it is made up of 59,000 volunteers divided into 1,050 local units, and the money collected during the national days allows the financing of local actions. When you donate during this fundraiser, you help at the bottom of your home, in your neighborhood. The collections, I did them all during my Red Cross years and there was no question of missing one. To get a donation? There are good and bad intersections. So we were trying to post to the right one, of course.
A Red Cross volunteer, the main character of your next novel, is it possible?
It will surely happen. It will happen naturally.
This Saturday, Adriana Karembeu, ambassador of the association, accompanied by Philippe Da Costa, president of the French Red Cross, will launch the collection week (until June 11), Paris, Nelson-Mandela garden at 10:00 a.m. Then they will go to Lille, Place du Théâtre at 3:30 p.m.