Open house operation at Emmaüs.
This Thursday, but also throughout the weekend, the community of Bougival (Yvelines), located on the island of La Loge, offers the public the opportunity to relive the emblematic date of February 1, 1954, the day when Abbot Pierre called, on the airwaves of Radio Luxembourg, for solidarity to help homeless people faced with the harshness of that winter.
“It’s about telling how things happened and remembering what community values are,” explains Yves Fallouey, the president of the Bougival branch.
Who has made sure to communicate in recent days by distributing flyers with volunteers in the surrounding markets.
Saturday noon, a “community meal” will be offered in the community refectory.
The principle is simple: a ticket purchased for 5 euros for a starter, chicken and fries and dessert menu.
“We will bring people in as places become available and they will be served at the table.
We have planned 300 meals.
It’s a way of discovering the community from the inside,” explains Yves Fallouey.
Community anniversary coming soon
This anniversary is in reality a first act of the festivities which will mark this year 2024. In June, the Emmaüs community of Port-Marly-Bougival will celebrate its 70 years of existence, making it “one of the first in France but also one of the most important” with nearly 70 volunteers, around a hundred companions and 35 integration workers on the Nanterre site (Hauts-de-Seine).
Read alsoBefore the deadly winter of 54, it all began in Seine-Saint-Denis for Abbot Pierre and Emmaüs
Here again, Emmaüs will work through exhibitions, but also concerts.
“We plan to organize the Music Festival on the site,” announced the president.
It’s a little out of the ordinary, it allows you to do something festive.”
Across the national territory, Emmaüs has 13,000 volunteers and nearly 7,000 companions spread across 120 communities.
The association collects nearly 300,000 tonnes of very diverse goods each year, a figure which has increased by 42% in ten years.
It is also present in around forty countries around the world, from South Africa to Bangladesh via Colombia.
This Thursday from 2 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. and this Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. at the Emmaüs community of Port-Marly-Bougival on the island of La Loge.