On November 22, 23 and 24, the Northern Food Bank is organizing its major annual food collection in several stores in the Lille metropolitan area, to redistribute them to people in difficulty. But for it to be a success, the association needswithout as many volunteers as possible.
Let’s get straight to the point. Food aid has exploded for several years. “We work with nearly 195 associations in the region who share their figures with us. In 5 years, the need has increased by 30%“, indicates Marion Fourrier, director of the Northern Food Bank. In 2023, 13 million meals were distributed by associations, or 5,400 tonnes of food. “We are at 104,000 people per month“, continues Marion. Yeah, it's huge.
“We still have retirees, people at the end of their rights, with a disability and single-parent families but two other profiles have emerged: students since covid and poor workers with a part-time permanent or fixed-term contract and who work on the minimum wage .“
+ volunteers, + food collected
If we tell you all this, it's because you can lend a helping hand so that as many people as possible can eat their fill. You can make a donation of course, but you can also become a volunteer during the major national collection which takes place on November 22, 23 and 24.
Volunteers position themselves next to several stores, schools and businesses to collect food and hygiene products from the general public. It's once a year and the more volunteers there are, the more the geographical area of the action can extend and the more food will be collected.
“They can decide how long they want to participate: one hour, two hours, a day, the whole weekend…“, indicates Marion. The collections take place in different sectors, which allows you to act close to home. No need for special skills, coming with a smile and motivation is all that matters. If you are interested , you can send an email now to [email protected] or call 03 20 93 93 93.
And if you're interested, the Northern Food Bank is looking for volunteers all year round for sorting food, preparing packages for associations or for tasks related to your skills.
