France/Longvic: a sports association welcomes Red Cross children for a week

The ALC Longvic association welcomes 12 children from the Red Cross for a week, to introduce them to various sports: handball, judo, fencing and karate.

During this week of the All Saints' vacation, the ALC Longvic association is welcoming 12 children aged 6 to 12 from the Red Cross to take part in a range of sporting activities, including handball, soccer, judo, karate and fencing. The scheme is the fruit of an unprecedented partnership between the Red Cross, Lidl and the Fédération Française des Clubs Omnisports, and ALC Longvic has been chosen to pilot the project! The 12 children are refugees, living in a CADA (reception center for asylum seekers) in the Dijon metropolitan area with their parents.

A first experience for the ALC Longvic, it's a project that immediately convinced its president Gérard Genty: "We said yes straight away, and I was immediately enthusiastic about the project, because it fits in perfectly with our values of sharing, living together and solidarity. And I was pleasantly surprised to see that all my sections were ready to get involved in the project and propose activities," he explains. "The aim is to get these children out of their usual environment, to enable them to discover something new, and to take part in activities that they might not be used to doing in ordinary times. But it was also an opportunity for me to unite my sections around a common project. Over a week, it wasn't that easy! So I think this could be the start of something."

Source: www.francebleu.fr/