Support most vulnerable & fight against isolation

Food, an essential challenge for Secours Catholique – Caritas France

 Food question represents a major health, territorial and environmental issue. Many French people, aware of the impact of food on health and well-being and of the need to consume in a sustainable way, wish to turn to more responsible consumption.

At the same time, 5 to 7 million people in France, or 10% of the population, have recourse to food aid. 9 out of 10 households supported by Secours Catholique – Caritas France do not have regular access to enough healthy and nutritious food for normal growth and development and an active and healthy life. More than a quarter of them suffer from severe food insecurity, i.e. they regularly go without a meal during the day.
With people in precariousness, Secours Catholique – Caritas France wishes to provide a sustainable response and is experimenting with various initiatives to ensure that quality food is accessible to everyone in the territories.

Creation of a mobile social grocery store in rural areas

Our project consists in the creation of a solidarity grocery store open to everyone, fitted out on board a truck crisscrossing the roads of Bauges (rural area), Albanais and Chautagne (peri-urban area) in Savoie (73), to go to the encounter of isolated and/or disadvantaged people.

Access to the grocery store is offered to the entire population (based on 70 members). Customers choose the products they wish to consume and participate to the extent of their means via a membership card system.

Decent access to food for 150 people

In a mobile solidarity grocery store open to everyone, the aim is to make quality local products accessible to people and families in difficulty with fair remuneration from the producer. This project proposes an innovative solution for a decent access to food :

• By offering this service to the entire population, any form of stigmatization compared to a traditional food distribution point is avoided;
• By placing back in the hands of the consumer the power to choose the products that will make up his basket (type and quantity of products according to tastes, culture and needs);
• By participating up to their means (between 10 and 30% of the market value), the member finds themselves in a classic pattern of access to food.

A mobile format to adapt to the specificity of the territory

This initiative is part of a rural area in which mobility is often difficult for people in precariousness. The mobility issue in this area is major and further increases inequalities. By proposing an itinerant project, the solidarity grocery store makes this path towards others, thus making it possible to broaden its audience and meet isolated people.

The ambition is to create a space of conviviality and initiatives, initially led by volunteers and local partners, to forge long-term links and support towards a "better life". The grocery store is also a vehicle for encounters, mutual aid and integration. It awakens the sense of the collective and the desire to build together.

THE PARTICIPATION OF ALL at the heart of the project

The grocery store wishes to encourage the participation of each member in the operation (development of activities, choice of producers, logistics, sales, etc.). People are encouraged to take initiatives and responsibilities. Through this participation, people gradually (re)gain self-confidence and position themselves as actors in their own lives.

Project launch phases

• A first phase of experimentation (March - May 2022), orchestrated by a project manager, have allowed the project to be confronted with the field and adjustments made.
• The delivery of the vehicle in May 2022 launched of the second phase of experimentation to extend the scope of action to new villages.
• From October 2022, the area of action is expanding to reach the objective of 150 people benefiting from decent access to food.

The purchase of the vehicle was funded thanks to the French Government France Relance plan. The funding requirement for this project is 62,600 euros will be devoted to food products purchased from local producers and suppliers.

But what does "Boteka" mean? This pretty name means "shop" in Savoyard patois...
Much more than a simple grocery store, it is welcoming, warm, lively and adapted to all needs!