She was to find a homeless man, in the heart of La Défense, to give him one of the “survival kits” that she is making.
But he canceled at the last minute.
"It happens ... When you're on the street, the notions of schedules or organization of the day immediately become more complicated to keep", smiles Anne-Gabrielle Compagnon, packing up a sleeping bag, fleece, gloves, sock. and first aid kit she was about to give.
“No big deal.
We will contact each other again via the Entourage application ”, puts the 35-year-old young woman into perspective, proud to be part of the 5,000 inhabitants of Hauts-de-Seine who have already joined this network of united and committed citizens.
Immediately after leaving her post of director of marketing in a training organization, exactly one year ago, on the eve of the first confinement, this resident of the Bécon district, in Courbevoie, had created a site calling for donations (olatanea.com) to finance its survival kits to offer to people on the street.
But how can you then hand them over to the people concerned when you are neither a social worker nor a member of an association already in the field?
Anne-Gabrielle then turned to Entourage.
This national association, created in 2016 in Paris and developed from 2018 in the Hauts-de-Seine, has precisely set itself the objective of making practical tools available to citizens, who wish to get involved but without knowing too much. How to do it.
A mobile application useful to all, homeless and well housed
Entourage's strength is its eponymous mobile application.
A social network, in the true sense of the word, on which everyone can subscribe.
“Well-housed” residents such as the homeless, more than 70% of whom have a laptop.
The app, which can be downloaded on all smartphones, is full of educational advice on helping the precarious, webinar (online meetings), addresses and concrete elements to better guide the homeless to help systems. .
“It's the network of those who don't have one!
», Summarizes Fabiola La Rocca, in charge of the deployment of Entourage.
And the activist to cite as an example the experiment of sharing professional contacts with precarious job seekers set up by Entourage and called LinkedOut, in reference to another social network very popular with HRDs.
Another advantage of the Entourage application: the digital platform allows all its members to post announcements, requests for assistance or proposals for solidarity actions.
The "posts", geolocatable on the map of Ile-de-France in the form of large red dots (voluntarily wide enough for questions of protection of the homeless), allow all members who consult them to participate in discussions. mutual aid actions.
"The contact, the smiles, that's the most important"
Under one of these points, in Courbevoie, we discover the announcement of Nick, who needs “emergency accommodation following major health concerns”.
Under another in Suresnes, that of Dominique, who is looking for reinforcements to "ensure a maraud with possibly a food distribution" in his town ...
“People offer material help, administrative assistance but above all links, contact, smiles.
This is the most important ”, insist Entourage officials.
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It is not Anne-Gabrielle who will say the opposite.
“The distribution of the survival kit quickly becomes secondary,” confirms the young woman, who often spends more than an hour with the people she helps.
“We talk, we have a coffee, we exchange… It has happened that some people leave, forgetting the bag with the survival kit!
"
Information on the site www.entourage.social or on Facebook @ RéseauEntourage.
