From the start of the crisis and the lockdown, the association chose to act responsibly by closing its collective reception centers to curb the spread of the pandemic and to ensure they could resume their activities as quickly as possible for the most disadvantaged, ensuring safety for volunteers and those received or encountered.
Secours Catholique continues its activities remotely, reorganizing its support by implementing new forms of local fraternity: telephone support for the elderly or isolated, a helpline for listening and administrative aid, distribution of service vouchers to allow the disadvantaged to shop…
In recent days, and to support the delegations, employees, and volunteers to resume their activities under optimal conditions, the association has implemented 3 levels of safety depending on the type of activities conducted, ranging from those requiring no contact to those involving physical meetings.
Actions implemented in the Alpes-Maritimes delegation:
Service Vouchers Operation
The association nationally unlocked 2.5 million euros 10 days ago to purchase service vouchers. These vouchers allow people in precarious situations to shop in stores like everyone else, even when association activities are reduced and the odd jobs that helped them get by have vanished.
Distributing service vouchers is the best way to immediately address this emergency while minimizing contact and thus the risk of spreading the epidemic.
Listening and Support
Volunteer teams have set up telephone hotlines for people supported by Secours Catholique in the Alpes-Maritimes or referred by the CCAS. Telephone chains and WhatsApp groups also help to break isolation and organize local fraternity actions when necessary and possible.
Secours Catholique, a civil security-accredited association, intervenes as part of the Orsec plan for population support, triggered by the Prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes. Accordingly, all actions undertaken by the Secours Catholique delegation of Alpes-Maritimes are coordinated by the Prefecture and are part of the departmental action plan.
