As every year, the Red Cross organizes its National Collection Days. A week dedicated to collecting donations all over France.
This Saturday, volunteers were at Place de la Bastille, in Paris, for the launch of the action. Stands, orange vests and in the middle of this gathering, a donation box. This Parisian, heart-shaped sunglasses on her nose, slips a five-euro note into it: “ I saw that we could fund food aid, clothing aid, first aid kits, etc. For me, it’s essential, and giving to the Red Cross means making a small gesture for others.. »
Donations all the more expected by the association after the Covid crisis. ” All the money we collect will be used to help us with our local missions, already to take care of people who are in distress. We do patrols, we go to see people who are on the street, there is also the whole emergency and first aid part, we have an ambulance with teams, equipment, and all that has to be maintained and paid for “Explains Cristina Castiglioni, a volunteer in the 4th arrondissement of Paris, at the microphone of d’Aglae Gautreaufrom the French department.
For Philippe Da Costa, president of the association, it is also an opportunity to show the public how the money raised is used: “ A given euro allows a meal to be distributed, 60 euros given, it allows a training of gesture that saves to be carried out. But what is important is also the logic of the dialogue that is established through the play, the note that is given to us. »
In a context of inflation, this collection is necessary for the Red Cross. Last year, the French gave less money to charities than in previous years.