Salvation Army Launches “Operation Solidarity Heat” Appeal to Aid Homeless and Vulnerable People in France This Summer

The Salvation Army in France has launched Operation Solidary Heat, a national mobilization to ensure that no one is left alone during the summer heat, whether on the street, in precarious housing, or in isolation. The group describes the operation as a call for solidarity to offer time for respite.

The Salvation Army said that more than 350,000 people in France are homeless or housed in associative structures, including families, children, elderly people, isolated women, and people in situations of great insecurity. It said that the street is dangerous all year, and that summer also puts lives at risk.

The organization said it has worked in France with the most vulnerable people for 145 years, guided by the conviction that nobody should be left behind. It said its teams of more than 3,000 employees and thousands of volunteers welcome people, host them, listen, distribute meals, open places of respite, and build connections with people whom society no longer sees, in cities including Marseille, Lille, Nîmes, Montpellier, Lyon, Mulhouse, Belfort, Louviers and Paris (Matthew 25:35, in the work of welcoming strangers and feeding the hungry).

The group stated that access to water, hygiene, shade, or simply a place of respite should never be a privilege, and described this as a matter of human dignity. It said it believes collective concern can become a spirit of solidarity and that everyone can take part, at their own scale, in what it called a useful and deeply human mobilization.

The Salvation Army asked individuals, businesses, associations, communities, schools and families to give or collect products of great necessity in hot weather. It listed rechargeable mists, hats and caps, fans, body wipes, sunscreen, gourds and bottles of water, deodorants and shower gels as items that would make a difference for people living on the street and for other fragile groups.

Beyond donations, the organization invited the public to pay attention to people on the street, offer a look, offer a presence, and ask questions, which it described as a first step toward a human connection. It also encouraged people to share the operation on social networks using the hashtag #Solidary chaleur, join a maraude, or become a volunteer. Those seeking more information were directed to the Volunteering Directorate of the Salvation Army, reachable at 01 43 62 25 42 or through an online form.

Source: Read the original report (translated from French)