France/ "We're not just here for the food": Restos du Cœur de la Sarthe signs partnership with France Travail

To further the fight against poverty, the Restos du Cœur association in the Sarthe region signed a partnership with France Travail on December 13, 2024. The aim is to refer people who are far from employment and help them reintegrate into society and the workplace.

It's easy to forget that Restos du Cœur isn't just about food aid. That's what Joël Defontaine, the association's departmental chairman in Sarthe, was keen to point out when he signed a partnership agreement with France Travail. Restos du Cœur aims to combat precariousness by emphasizing an aspect that seems to have been forgotten over the years: facilitating professional integration for better social integration.Many "invisible" beneficiaries are still off France Travail's radar and have no viable way out of poverty.

An association on two legs

"Look under the logo there, very small, what do you read?", says Joël Defontaine. "Les relais du cœur! We always focus only on food, but Coluche's idea was for Restos du Cœur to be a real relay for all aspects of life," recalls the association's president. "To be reintegrated. You need a home to cook in, and you need a job to earn enough money to feed yourself and your family."

At present, the association is far from achieving this, and remains best known for its food aid. "It's a bit our fault with Restos, we've put too much emphasis on food when we're aiming for both aspects. But we're not just here for the food. To eat, you have to work," says Joël Defontaine. It's a message he hopes to pass on to the association's clients, some of whom have never worked before. " We have more and more 18-30 year olds,without any professional experience, who arrive completely destitute", he laments.

Support through workshops

To help them, the association guides them towards various workshops, offered by France Travail or Aide Globale à la Personne. French writing courses, CV-writing workshops, behavioral workshops, clothing workshops thanks to a partnership with la cravate solidaire: there are many areas of support." The aim is to get them to realize that they need to be in a position to present themselves in order to get a job," explains Joël Defontaine.

Volunteers and salaried staff, who will themselves be trained by France Travail, will be able to refer them to these different workshops according to their needs. "We have a few volunteers who come from human resources and know the process, with all that goes with it. That is to say, to be well in one's head, to be well physically and therefore to eat what one wants, to be able to get up in the morning, etc." The people cared for by the association can hope to find service jobs in particular.

Many needs

The association is currently looking for volunteers with experience in the field of job search support (retirees France Travail, recruitment and training companies, temporary employment agencies), as well aspremises in Le Mans to replace the Miroir activity center, which is no longer suitable for receiving the public.

Source: www.francebleu.fr/