This is one of the recognized consequences of the health crisis.
For many French households, the pandemic has had a negative impact on the financial situation, most of the time worsening the difficulties of families with the lowest incomes.
One of the latest effects of this particular situation is linked to the early closure of schools for the Easter holidays, accompanied by the closure of school catering services.
An additional cost for families, lunch at home is often more expensive than a meal in the canteen.
In Pont-Sainte-Maxence, several citizens alerted the mayor of the town, Arnaud Dumontier (LR), on their difficulties increased by this situation during the last school holidays.
“We are both on short-time work with three children who normally go to the canteen, extracurricular or nursery,” says a mother of a Maxipontaine family.
This period of closure of schools and school restorations weighed heavily on our budget, which was already impacted by the loss of salary.
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Global aid of 14,240 euros
If the State has already implemented aid for the most vulnerable households, the mayor of Pont wanted the city to also provide support to these families. "All these messages received asking me what the city was planning to do to help the inhabitants in this difficult period prompted me to think about rapid action," he explains. My first idea was to send a check to the parents, but the city services explained to me that for tax reasons, it was better to do otherwise. "
The formula finally adopted takes the form of a credit corresponding to 8 meals in the canteen, established for all families whose income is in the first two brackets of the family quotient.
“This concerns 680 families, or two-thirds of the children enrolled in school catering,” recalls Arnaud Dumontier.
From the feedback I was able to get, I think this gesture was very much appreciated.
This boost against the financial consequences of Covid-19 represents a cost of € 14,240 for the city of Pont-Sainte-Maxence.
Additional subsidies for the Samu social, Restaurants and Secours Catholique
This will not be the only means used by the municipality to try to cushion the harmful effects of the health crisis on the resources of the inhabitants.
Always with the aim of supporting the population to provide for its most basic needs, including that of food, the city intends to rely on the associative fabric, which will be helped more so that it can in turn come to the aid of most vulnerable people.
“With the period we are going through, some associations of Pont-Sainte-Maxence have requested less subsidies because most of their activities have remained at a standstill, explains Arnaud Dumontier.
This will allow us to reallocate money and give a strong inflection in favor of charities, focusing on aid and relief.
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Municipal aid will therefore be increased in favor of Samu Social, Restos du coeur and Secours Catholique, the three main associations of the municipality whose object is to support the most deprived. Associations which were able to note, both at the departmental and local level, that the number of people needing help, if only to eat, had increased for a year under the effect of the health crisis.
