“A little idea, like that…”, launches Michel Colucci, known as Coluche, during his humor show “There will be something for everyone”. We are on September 26, 1985, on Europe 1. The idea in question: a free canteen to serve meals to the poorest.
When Coluche created the Restos, France suffered a serious economic crisis. In 1979, the second oil shock upset the world economy. The same year, Iran, a major oil producer, experienced its Islamic revolution. In 1980, the war between Iran and Iraq further aggravated the energy crisis. After a few post-election social measures, the government of François Mitterand took the “turn of rigor”.
In this video, we retrace the epic of the Restaurants du Coeur since its first campaign, on December 21, 1985, in Gennevilliers. That winter, 8.5 million meals were served to those who were then called the “new poor”. Thirty-six years later, the ociation has distributed 142 million.
Today, the energy crisis and inflation are back. On September 4, the president of Restos du Coeur, Patrice Douret, alerted to the financial fragility of the ociationwhose number of beneficiaries is increasing while the cost of the food products distributed is also on the rise.