The Telethon takes place this year on Friday November 29 and Saturday November 30. Last year, the event raised 930,000 euros in Gard.
“It is essential to be able to party to raise funds and advance research”proclaims Pascale Loison, coordinator of the AFM, which organizes the Telethon on November 29 and 30. This year, the first change, the dates are brought forward because it was impossible to have the 30 hours of television broadcast on the first weekend of December due to the inauguration of Notre-Dame. “But there will be activities on December 7 and 8 and this will last until December 15”continues the organizer, who also sets herself the objective “to make children smile”
Last year, the Telethon raised €930,000 in Gard, including €130,000 in Nîmes. The Gard prefecture is once again mobilized. Usam, “historic partner” recalls David Tebib, will offer several activities for the handball match on December 13, against Cesson-Rennes, “a high-stakes match with 2,500 or 3,000 people in the stands” which will be kicked off by a sick child. The CFA Sud training consultancy apprentices are organizing a pancake day starting this Tuesday, November 26 and will be wrapping gifts at Decathlon on the first two Wednesdays of December. Les Jardins d’Arcadie senior service residences are joining the adventure at the national level. In Nîmes, residents will sell cakes and hot chocolates on Avenue de la Méditerranée, near the CGR. The Grau-du-Roi residence will also participate in the weekend.
Flora Vautier, Paralympic medalist as godmother
The beating heart of the Nîmes Telethon will be at Vauban University. Saturday, November 30, at 11 a.m., a solidarity march will set off from rue Guizot to discover the heritage. Then, the faculty will bring together the activities, in the presence of godmother Flora Vautier, bronze medalist in table tennis at the last Paralympic Games. Among the many activities, a 30-meter zip line in the moat of Fort Vauban, but also rock jumping, sevillana, inflatable structures, a race challenge, photos with the mascots and the Olympic torch, food trucks…
Uchaud, ville phare
But the flagship town in Gard this year will be Uchaud. “Last year, they exceeded €10,000, welcomes Pascale Loison. Uchaud never applied but we selected him in recognition of the commitment and mobilization of the associations and the municipality”. The village will welcome the Merces company to create a medieval village of 400 square meters, with sword fights, archery, illumination, minting of coins… The firefighters will also offer activities. In all, the curious will have the choice between around fifty proposals, including the common theme, the construction of a fortified castle made of milk bricks.
“Our main monument is our heart, our associative fabric”explain Mayor Geoffrey Léon and his deputy Michel Alcaraz, who wish for the occasion that the mobilization of the village be “chivalrous.”
Aimargues will also be particularly mobilized, thanks to Benjamin Murcis, former gendarme and father of little Antoine, 12 years old, confined to a wheelchair by Duchenne muscular dystrophy. With the Les Képis Pescalune association, he will connect Montluçon, the town where his son was born, and the Petite Camargue by bike in four days.
Sports challenge in Aimargues
Upon his arrival, he will pass the baton to Vincent Noyer, who plans to do in 48 hours, 5,000 push-ups, 5,000 sit-ups, 5,000 jumping jacks, 80 kilometers of running, 300 kilometers of cycling and 96 tons of bench presses. layer. Several actors from the series Here it all beginsfilmed nearby in Saint-Laurent-d'Aigouze, will participate in the weekend. The goal is “to explode the collection” in Aimargues, according to Benjamin Murcis, who recalls with emotion, that all this is not done “only for children”.
Indeed, as Pascale Loison reminds us, “We save children, but we must not forget all the others. It’s the fight of a lifetime.” There are 8,000 rare diseases and currently only around thirty treatments. “There is still a long way to go.”
