Two weeks ago, six refrigerated trucks from the Gard food bank went up in smoke, in an arson attack. Despite this, the charitable structure has resumed its activities at 100% and donations are pouring in thanks to a great outpouring of solidarity, but significant needs remain.
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Since the fire which ravaged six trucks from the Gard food bank on November 28, donations have been pouring in en masse: from ordinary individuals to communities and state representatives, everyone is putting their hands in their pockets. !
The day after this disaster, the possible perpetrators of which have not yet been identified, thirteen intercommunal authorities in Gard mobilized to offer 100,000 euros to the charitable association.
Monday, December 9, the State announced an exceptional payment of 150,000 euros to support “this essential link in food distribution for the benefit of the most disadvantaged Gardoises”, writes the Gard prefecture in a press release.
These collections make it possible to feed 42,000 people in Gard and support some 90 associations.
Even the Gard hunters made a gesture, offering the food bank a hundred whole pheasants and 150 pheasant terrines!
There was a wonderful chain of solidarity that was created the same day, we had dozens of messages from all the food banks in France, Occitanie, and the PACA region.
Joseph Pronesti, president of the Gard food bank
The amount of material damage estimated at 500,000 euros by those responsible for the Gard food bank, who also launched an online fundraiser, because they need to rent new vehicles to continue collection and distribution activities. However, renting a refrigerated truck costs nearly 2,000 euros per month.
“The Alsace food bank offered to give us two trucks. It's extraordinary because it will allow us to continue the work at a lower cost! We will pick them up in Strasbourg by train on Sunday and we will return with them on Monday Morning” explains Yves Dumont, the manager of the Banque Alimentaire 30 drivers.
“In our misfortune, we were lucky to realize that the food bank is very important in France and in the Gard because we were helped a lot. This external aid highlights what we do” adds Yves Dumont.
While thanking from the bottom of their hearts all the people who helped them, from the most modest to the most senior, the association's leaders ask their generous donors not to relax their efforts, because the budget is not still closed for the end of the year.
In the meantime, as if to thumb its nose at this disastrous episode, the Gard food bank has set itself an ambitious objective: to double the number of its distributions compared to the same period last year.
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