Night has just fallen when the van pulls up at the edge of a discreet parking lot, at the entrance to the town of Athis-Mons (Essonne), about ten kilometers south of Paris. Despite the darkness, the stylish food truck with its blue, white and red colors and stylized facades is sure to attract attention. However, his meals are not intended for passing motorists, in a hurry to return home on this freezing Monday evening.
Named La Petite Cuisine d’Henry, in memory of the founder of the International Red Cross, Henry Dunant, this “solidarity” food truck belongs to the departmental delegation of the Red Cross. Since October 2022, the association has installed it several times a month in three municipalities in Essonne in order to offer a comforting menu to dozens of homeless people.
One Monday evening every two weeks in Athis-Mons, one Thursday alternately in Etampes (30 kilometers to the south) and Savigny-sur-Orge (5 kilometers), this food aid solution on four wheels allows association to intervene directly in municipalities in the department where it is not established in a fixed manner because poverty is dispersed there, although significant.
“Solidarity deserts” for 2 million people
There are thousands of areas like this in France. The Red Cross called them “solidarity deserts”. According to her, these “deserts” encompass no less than 4,000 municipalities and cover a population of 2 million people.
They were identified for the needs of a new plan national fight against the solidarity divide in the territories. Financed by the Crédit Mutuel Alliance Fédérale foundation to the tune of 7.5 million euros, this plan launched at the end of October 2023 should enable the association to extend its territorial coverage by 28% and support 72,000 people in addition to by 2026 (compared to 23,000 currently).
“More friendly and less stigmatizing”
To categorize these “solidarity deserts”, the NGO cross-referenced three pieces of data: all are located more than 20 kilometers from a current Red Cross branch, are characterized by a weak or absent associative offer, while needs are identified there. Four pilot departments, Cantal, Tarn, Haute-Garonne and Essonne, have been designated to experiment with initial solutions.
On this Monday evening at the end of January, in Athis-Mons, the four volunteers mobilized to run the solidarity food truck, Maryvonne, Didier, Solène and Marion, are busy in the kitchen and serving, while around thirty people are gradually arriving. You have to act quickly: the municipality only allows them to park here from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m., to ensure distribution. Hamburger and fries, omelette, croque-monsieur or hot dog… The principle of La Petite Cuisine d’Henry is “to offer a pleasure meal” to the people helped, recalls Alain Bouchard, vice-president of the territorial delegation of Essonne and head of the project.
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