The Restos de coeur announced this Wednesday, October 4 that they will no longer be able to provide food aid to all their beneficiaries from November 2023, due to lack of resources.
“We are going to refuse people for the first time in the history of Restos du Cœur.” The news was made reluctantly by the general delegate of the association, Jean-Yves Troy, this Wednesday, October 4 in front of the members of the National Assembly. The number of beneficiaries will be reduced from November. The organization had expressed its difficulties since the start of the school year in September and had warned that without sufficient aid, it would have to reduce the aid distributed for next winter.
If the Restos du coeur were able to count on generous donations sent after their distress call, they can no longer meet the needs of the growing number of beneficiaries. Volunteers are “out of breath” and the association suffers from costs which increase during periods of inflation. The association is no longer “humanly tailored” to meet its mission according to its representative: “The Restos du coeur are not sized today to distribute 170 million meals, to accommodate 1.3 million people, i.e. 200,000 more in one year. An observation that is obvious to the volunteer, despite the 100,000 people involved regularly or occasionally with the association.
Difficulties for years to come
Forced to reduce its capacities, the association is not abandoning its missions. Beneficiaries will be able to continue to be received, but “the criteria for access to food aid”, in particular the level of income, will be revised downwards. Grants allocated to beneficiaries will also be reduced. These changes are already an admission of failure, but above all suggestive of a “brutal and massive” crisis for Jean-Yves Troy.
The announcements made by the general delegate of Restos du coeur before the National Assembly apply to winter 2023, but the man is not looking ahead to the years to come. It is impossible to know the organization’s ability to meet its budget for the next few years, since it is largely dependent on donations received.