the Fondation de France collects 14 million euros in a few days, an “exceptional surge of generosity”

The Fondation de France has already collected 14 million euros since launching its call for donations for Mayotte on Sunday, a “exceptional surge of generosity”according to Alexandre Giraud, its director of philanthropic action. “This is the biggest start of emergency fundraising in such a short time at the Fondation de France”said Alexandre Giraud for the Fondation de France, which presents itself as the leading philanthropy network in France. For comparison, the Fondation de France campaign on the occasion of Hurricane Irma in the Antilles in 2017 had collected 15.2 million in total. 13.5 million were collected in total for victims of the earthquake in Türkiye and Syria in 2023 and 10.8 million for the earthquake in Morocco the same year.

The Fondation de France is studying eight projects from associations established locally in Mayotte, devastated by the passage of Cyclone Chido on Saturday. “We have validated a Solidarités International project intended for water and sanitation”specified Alexandre Giraud. The Foundation intends to initially focus on access to water and shelter for populations, by working with locally established associations. Around a third of the population of Mayotte, or more than 100,000 inhabitants, notably people in an irregular situation coming from neighboring Comoros, live in precarious housing, most of which was destroyed after the devastating passage of Cyclone Chido.

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Several calls for donations

Secours catholique indicated that it had dedicated 100,000 euros from its fund to Mayotte “Emergency France”not specific to this overseas department. Catholic Relief says it is trying to get in touch with its local volunteers, who are people receiving help, in precarious circumstances, first affected by the cyclone. When questioned, the French Red Cross, which also launched an appeal for donations, was not able to provide information on the amounts collected. In a press release, it indicates having sent on site “staff reinforcements” “since Reunion and France just before confinement”to support employees and volunteers already present on the island. “Reserves of drinking water and food have been pre-positioned, and our teams on site are ready to intervene as soon as the situation allows”she indicates.

The La Poste group announced Thursday that it will issue a donation stamp of 2.39 euros on January 2, including one euro for the benefit of the Red Cross, for which it has released emergency aid of 200,000 euros. This is the fourth donation stamp issued by La Poste in the last 20 years. “in order to come to the aid of populations affected by the tragedies of life”after the tsunami in Asia in 2004, the earthquake in Haiti in 2010 and the invasion of Ukraine in 2022.