Poverty organizations notice rising poverty, pasta producer from Roeselare donates 10 tons of pasta

Resto du Coeur works for our province from Ostend. They want to tackle poverty with food aid, aid with education and housing and health care. And they also have a social restaurant there. Those who do not have it wide can also go there for food packages and clothing. There are now many parents with children, and people who are retired. And there are more and more, again Pierre De Coninck of the vzw Lichten Oostende. “We have had an increase of about 50 percent in 2021, and now we are already at the same result as last year. It has never been this bad.”

Resto du Coeur distributed nearly 690,000 meals across the country in the first semester. That is more than in a normal year, which normally amounts to 670,000 meals. In 2021 this was already twice as much and it seems that that number will increase this year. Some social restaurants have a third more visitors.

bleak outlook

Also in Ostend they notice more and more people in difficulties. In addition, putting together food packages is becoming increasingly difficult. Now there are certain department stores that we don’t have to visit anymore,” De Coninck knows. “That it’s not worth the trouble to pick it up. Department stores buy more limited. And many stores now keep products on the shelves until the end date, where they used to give them away to aid organizations shortly before.

That is why donations are even more welcome than usual. Soubry from Roeselare – known for its pasta products – therefore donates ten tons of pasta. “For us, this means contributing a little bit to society,” says Michel Soubry. “As a company, we have a social function. And that’s why we give some comfort, some pleasure to people to get through these difficult times.”