New arrangements for the Jardins du Cœur of Villeneuve-lès-Maguelone

The nonprofit Les Restaurants du Cœur, created in 1985 on the initiative of the actor Coluche on the basis of food aid, quickly realized that the beneficiaries expected from the volunteers a relationship, a link that extended beyond food needs and a true personal aid, in order to avoid settling down into a degrading and demotivating assisted status. Thus, as of 1989, the Relais du Cœur were created, genuine places for reception, listening, counseling, and finally, the first Jardins du Cœur came into being in 1994.

Finding a job for 20% of the back-to-work candidates

The nonprofit Les Restaurants du Cœur de l'Hérault manages 33 centers in the district and distributes food aid to 21 000 families in winter (1 600 000 meals during the 2010/2011 season alone). Committed for years to personal aid with a housing assistance project (Les Toits du Cœur, 1995), cultural aid projects (Rendez-vous au cinéma and exhibition tours, 2001), workshops to fight illiteracy and even a kitchen school, this dynamic nonprofit organized an integration project in the form of a Jardin du Cœur in 2004, in the commune of Villeneuve-lès-Maguelone. The avowed aim is to find jobs for 20% of the persons recruited on this Jardin, after a one-year contract. Today, to optimize its operations, the nonprofit Les Restaurants du Cœur de l'Hérault wants to enlarge the premises of its back-to-work gardens by creating a ladies changing room to complement the existing unisex changing room, and also to organize a 10 square m room as a cold room. This project will provide work for the long-term jobless persons involved in this back-to-work project, or about 40 persons per year.

The Veolia Foundation provided its support in 2005 to construct the equipment for these Jardins du Cœur. Since then, the activity reports have guaranteed their satisfactory operation and encouraged the Foundation to repeat its aid.