PORTRAIT. From beneficiary to director of the largest Secours populaire in France, Nora Chiheb, a life of service to others

After entering the Secours populaire door in 2015 as a beneficiary, Nora Chiheb is today deputy director of the largest committee in France. Story of an extraordinary journey, in the service of others.

With the phone still held to her ear, she quickly greets the thirty employees and the 150 volunteers who come to lend a hand to the association. “I know everyone’s first names.”smiles the deputy director of Secours populaire de Roubaix, the largest committee in France. 31,203 beneficiaries are currently identified, the equivalent of the population of the city of Lens.

In the association's premises, each person who meets Nora is entitled to a smile, a little thoughtful and personalized word. “I mainly take care of the partnership, logistics, volunteers, registrations, Norah list. But above all, the goal is for everyone to feel good.”.

In the warehouse where pallets filled with cans practically touch the ceilings, she greets Abdou, an employee. “What will we be able to put in the emergency packages this afternoon?”she asks. That day, it will be rice, fresh green beans gleaned a few days earlier in a field in Flanders by the volunteers, milk and frozen meat. At the back of the site, in the resource center premises, Nora observes, and asks to set aside a small office. “It's for a student who asked me. Until now, he was doing his homework on the floor. How do you want to get there?”

In addition to the numbers of her 5 children and her relatives, we find in her directory the contacts of the structure's employees, dozens of volunteers who come to lend a hand, and several beneficiaries whom she accompanies during important meetings. . There are also the numbers of the transporters who make daily food deliveries, those of the numerous partners – large companies, local businesses or farmers who authorize Rescue to glean the fields once the harvest is over. “I don't count my hours”, summarizes Nora Chiheb, who loves her job. She takes little leave, sometimes works weekends, all for a salary of 1,900 euros each month.

At 54, Nora Chiheb has a story that she herself describes as atypical. From a typical life, alongside a husband running a business, this mother of 5 years old found herself, overnight, with nothing. “I divorced following a very complicated situation, and I found myself going from a comfortable life to surviving, with CAF at 775 euros to feed my 5 children”she says, modestly.

No more trips, no more cars, no more shopping in supermarkets. Faced with this distress, Norah's sister decided to take her to a Secours populaire grocery store in Roubaix. “What struck me the most was the participatory prices. I said to myself: 'but it's not possible, there is a difference and the products here are up to 5 times cheaper.' I asked if we could access it and they told me yes.”. From emergency package distributions to the structure's grocery stores, Nora Chiheb finds herself there. For her, but especially for her children. “I had the dignity of being able to continue to feed my children, to give them something on their plates without changing their habits too much, because these are products that I used to buy in supermarkets.”

Reception is very important. If I had been poorly received at the start, I would never have come back and I don't know where I will be today.

Nora Chiheb, deputy director of Secours populaire de Roubaix

As a beneficiary, Norah Chiheb decided to volunteer in the structure, until being offered a subsidized contract of 20 hours per week. “I had to work and they gave me a chance”. A car is made available to approach partners. The beginning of a collaboration that has never stopped since.

Norah Chiheb is today deputy director of the Roubaix committee and departmental secretary of Relief in the North. “They got me out of the shit and gave me the opportunity to hold my head high in front of my kids,” sums up this mother who today puts her own experience at the service of others.

Among the hundreds of beneficiaries that Nora has met, she wants to tell us the story of this woman, prostrate, hidden behind a large hood, encountered during a marauding in Roubaix. “We served her a hot meal, then a second. She then came to pick up an emergency package, explaining to us that she was not working. I asked her if she knew how to cook, and we gave her a subsidized contract of a year to make the meals that we serve every day free of charge to the employees and volunteers who work here.” She has no further news today. “I know she found a job, a place to live. The job is done.”

His gaze is benevolent. “I’ve been there and I really understand the distress of these people who push the door to Help”says Nora. In an increasingly precarious society, she notes a change in the profile of beneficiaries. In addition to single-parent families, more and more retirees, students and employees are coming to ask for help. “Before, we had no more money at the end of the month, analyzes Nora Chiheb. Today, it's from the 10th. The priority is to have a roof over our heads, so we have to pay our rent, our electricity… and cut back on food, until we no longer have nothing to eat. Fortunately there are structures like ours to help families in total distress.”

Tireless and still ready to give of her time, Nora Chiheb is not ready to give up. “In the service of others, of humans”, she smiled. Like the motto of Secours populaire.

If you want to help Secours populaireyou can make a donation online or become a volunteer by registering via this link. A large clearance sale is organized by Nora Chiheb and her teams in the premises of Secours populaire de Roubaix this Saturday, November 30 from 11 a.m. Open to all, purchases support solidarity actions in favor of the most deprived.