Have you already started doing your Christmas shopping? It is also an opportunity to make a gesture for women in great precariousness. Since 2021, the association Chicks attack organise the “Advent bags” operation“. The goal is to send a backpack filled with hygiene and leisure products, but also small pleasures like chocolates to women housed in emergency housing. And the collection has already started.
The principle is that of an Advent calendar but in the form of a bag. “We put on warm clothes, like gloves or hats because as winter approaches, it’s not necessarily easy for everyone. It’s also to have fun, we wear hygiene products and products beauty to feel beautiful, it’s important for self-confidence We use everything that is leisure: books, coloring… Treats, chocolates, small cakes, because it’s more fun. “We also send a little note to each woman. Taking a particular interest in them I think is much more important, and it’s much more enjoyable.” explains Mélie Red, member of the Poulettes l’Assault association, in charge of the Vaucluse department.
“They need to be warmed to their hearts”
Last year, Mélie Red distributed about forty bags at the Rhéso association in Carpentras. “When I arrive with my bags, even the director has tears in her eyes. She sees that humans can still do things for other humans. Solidarity is being lost and we are trying to boost that and restart the machine. We are an association of girls here to help girls.”
These women are accommodated in emergency accommodation: “These are women who are forced to leave their homes, precisely, in an emergency, who find themselves with nothing. They leave without their papers sometimes, they don’t even take a bag with them, they don’t take change, they don’t know where they will be redirected. They don’t necessarily have friends in the area, they may end up on the street.” Through this operation, the idea is to bring them a little warmth during the end-of-year holidays: “It’s a nice little end-of-year present, they need to be reassured, to have their hearts warmed. It’s nice to see that someone else is thinking of them, it’s nice this Christmas season.”
The collection lasts until December 15. In Vaucluse, there are two collection points in Entraigues-sur-la-Sorgue to drop off your bag. The objective is to have one per municipality. Mélie Red is therefore launching a call to companies or businesses that would like to participate in the operation. If there is no collection point near you, you can also send your bag by Mondial Relay.
