With the help of a number of partners, a food aid initiative was implemented during the lockdown and has continued ever since.
One hundred and twenty-one students benefitted from food aid on the 26th May. Tell us about the origins of this initiative.
It was the sixth distribution since the 27th of April, with 829 food parcels/ready meals served to date. The idea was the direct result of several like-minded parties joining forces: Excelia, to provide support to all its students during the lockdown, and the association RVPP - "Remplir les ventres pas les poubelles" (fill bellies not bins), well-known for distributing low-cost "freegan boxes", whose President, Cathy Hardern, happens to be an English and Oral Communications teacher at Excelia. Phoning our 150 international students who were stuck in La Rochelle during the lockdown period, to ascertain if any of them were in a precarious situation, prompted us to get in touch with RVPP right away. From then on, everything happened very quickly, RVPP negotiated with two supermarkets for the students from our Arts Office (BDA) to collect any unsold products, and Franck Comot, a La Rochelle restaurateur, used his network to further increase the amount of food collected. We also decided to involve the CROUS, La Rochelle University and EIGSI Engineering School as well as ARPHEJ (student housing) and AFEV (local foundation for students).
Who benefits from this food aid?
All the students in La Rochelle. Information is channelled through the Schools and universities. All students, mostly international, are helped regardless of their background. The entire student community stuck in La Rochelle during the lockdown has received help, thanks to this initiative led by Excelia, in collaboration with a number of valued partners.
Ready meals or food parcels?
Both, if stocks allow! We provide ready meals prepared by Metiss & Bio, groceries, fruit, vegetables, bread, sometimes bagged salad. Léa Nature generously gave us a substantial donation of cereals and dried fruits that enabled us to supply students for two weeks in a row.
And it's still going on, isn't it?
Yes, it's been thirteen weeks now, making all the actors in higher education in La Rochelle very happy indeed. It's the culmination of two years of continued efforts to break down barriers, and our initiative has obviously had quite some impact: the Region is adopting the initiative and, with the help of the "Banque Alimentaire" (food bank) intends to extend it throughout New Aquitaine.
So, you're the bandleader in this adventure, and a bit like a mother to the students?
When dealing with students, we strive to offer a caring and humane approach, so there is inevitably a slight family feel to the way we work. My colleague Caroline Coursan and I think it's really sweet that students sometimes call us "Madame Caroline" and "Madame Emilie"... but "Mum"? No, never!
