The CMA CGM Foundation provides support for Secours Populaire’s initiatives

The CMA CGM Foundation is supporting crucial outreach initiatives by the Secours Populaire charity in the Bouches-du-Rhône department amid rising financial insecurity levels among France’s most vulnerable populations, especially young people.

Secours Populaire, a French charity founded in 1945, assists more than 3 million people every year. Its main focus is on providing access to essential resources and services for men, women and children in financial difficulty. Secours Populaire has 122 units in the Bouches-du-Rhône department, together with a network of 4,000 volunteers providing food aid and also support programs broadening access for everyone to leisure, cultural and health services.

With the end-of-year holidays almost upon us, we are proud to be supporting Secours Populaire’s initiatives helping families and children celebrate the season with dignity. The CMA CGM Foundation is supporting the charity’s actions in the Bouches-du-Rhône department, including the Pères Noël Verts (“Green Santas”) campaign. The goal is to hand out festive food treats for 7,000 children and buy fresh fruit (clementines) to add to the food parcels for distribution in December to 15,000 families, who receive the charity’s food aid in the department. 

Alongside this special initiative for the festive season, the CMA CGM Foundation will provide access for around a hundred young people throughout 2023 to free personal care kits and fresh, high-quality food products (fruit and vegetables purchased from local producers). The goal is to address many young people’s growing difficulties in sourcing these types of very expensive essential products.

The CMA CGM Foundation’s support will also cover the cost of buying a vehicle for the Solidar’Bus program. This mobile unit for young people is a truck kitted out with a reception area and a storage area. It travels around places popular with young people (local outreach units, hostels for young workers, university campuses, etc.) offering assistance packages and providing volunteer-based services.

Alongside these initiatives, the CMA CGM Group will harness its logistics expertise to find new ways, together with Secours Populaire, of optimizing their land-based warehousing and shipping services for donations through skills-based volunteering by employees at the CMA CGM Group’s CEVA Logistics subsidiary.

“We are delighted to be supporting Secours Populaire’s Pères Noël Verts campaign in the Bouches-du-Rhône department for the first time”, commented Tanya Saadé Zeenny, Chairwoman of the CMA CGM Foundation. “Reaching out to help those in need is a goal that unites Secours Populaire and the CMA CGM Foundation. Together, we are taking steps to make sure children can celebrate the holiday season with dignity by inviting them to an outreach Christmas party.”

“We’re thrilled the CMA CGM Foundation has come on board as a new partner backing our outreach programs for the most vulnerable”, added Sonia Serra, Head of Secours Populaire’s Bouches-du-Rhône department federation. “Business participation in Secours Populaire’s outreach projects helps us to increase our capabilities and our independence and diversifies our sources of funding. The Pères Noël Verts program and outreach initiatives throughout the year are crucially important – especially during the current crisis, which is hitting so very hard those people who were already struggling.”