de-Calais – Solidarity: how Catholic Relief works

“The reception points of Secours Catholique de St-Laurent Blangy and that of Saint-Paul church in Arras are open by appointment“, recalls Estelle Roger, solidarity facilitator in Artois. They allow people to be closely followed in their administrative and financial procedures to live better.

The territory house, located rue du Général Barbot in Arras, is a place of life run by volunteers, above all, and open very often. “Here, fraternity, sharing and meeting are the key words“, declares the manager. So, we can come to chat, drink a coffee or play a game but also look for a solution to our problems. Thus, the solidarity laundromat was born, people without a washing machine can come and wash their clothes and volunteers then help equip them.

Making Catholic Relief beneficiaries independent

“The goal of our actions is for the beneficiaries to become independent again, we do not provide assistance“, continues Estelle, who is delighted to see actions disappear to propose other more adequate ones. So the collection of school supplies is no longer of interest in Arras, the town hall now providing the little schoolchildren. “We will refocus our back-to-school actions on other municipalities next year“, concludes Estelle. On the other hand, individualized French lessons continue according to the availability of volunteers and cooking and theater projects will see the light of day soon.

Following the redevelopment of the premises, a new space allows you to take advantage of the donation of digital tablets to help all people in difficulty with the obligatory procedures. “We can clearly see that some people do not carry out their operations on the Internet and lose a lot of aid, this is not normal, we are going to fix it!“, smiles Estelle, who thanks all the volunteers who are involved. The prospect of the end-of-year holidays is coming and very quickly the toy exchange will be offered in the western district of Arras and on Christmas Day, a meal for isolated people will always be offered.

This article can be read in L'Observateur since October 24