Over this period, “change and adapt” has become the Societe Generale Foundation’s mantra to continue providing the support which many organisations so dearly need. This ability to adapt to circumstances is once more on display, with a last-minute operation to support our charitable organisations and bring joy to children throughout the end-of-year holidays.
2020 was scheduled to be full of opportunities for Societe Generale employees to get involved with volunteering: Citizen Commitment Time, toy sales, and collections of toys and clothes for partner organisations.
These Societe Generale Foundation operations, which were initially planned to take place in the towers at La Défense and Les Dunes in Val de Fontenay, with the participation of employees, were unable to go ahead within the context of the health crisis.
However, there was never any question of letting our organisations’ beneficiaries go without support over the Christmas period.
It was important to find a way of working around the difficult conditions to offer our support to our charitable organisations and their beneficiaries over this Christmas period. We are delighted to be able to do so through this operation which has once again enabled us to forge connections between our organisations, enabling them to work together in a virtuous circle and for the common good.
Aurélie Robin, Corporate Philanthropy Manager at the Societe Generale Foundation
A virtuous circle
For the Societe Generale The Future is You Foundation team, the challenge was to find a way of supporting the actions of partner organisations while bringing joy to the children who are their beneficiaries.
Societe Generale Foundation therefore turned to Rejoué, an organisation which employs socially excluded people to work on giving a second life to toys: organising their collection, sorting, cleaning and sale.
The organisation has a threefold objective: encouraging different ways of consuming (through the circular economy), supporting several hundred employees from socially excluded backgrounds to return to work since 2012 in their Vitry-sur-Seine workshop and selling the refurbished toys at affordable prices in their shops in the 14th arrondissement of Paris as well as in Ivry-sur-Seine and Vitry-sur-Seine.
140 rue du Château 75014 Paris
Centre Commercial Quais d’Ivry – 1er étage 30 boulevard Paul Vaillant Couturier 94200 Ivry-sur-Seine
4 avenue de l’Abbé Roger Derry 94400 Vitry-sur-Seine
Rejoué had already shown its resourcefulness during the first lockdown to adapt and even reinvent itself to overcome challenges.
Now, the Societe Generale Foundation has set it the task of “playing Santa” to many other organisations.
Thanks to a donation from the Foundation, 8,000 like-new toys will be distributed to beneficiaries of organisations such as Le Samu Social, Aurore, Emmaüs Défi, Apprentis d’Auteuil, as well as Carton Plein, Food de Rue and Gribouilli. The aim was to offer this “last-minute Santa” to as many organisations as possible, large or small, and thus to a wide range of beneficiaries in Paris or nearby suburbs.
This operation would not have been possible without the resourcefulness of Rejoué, which made this last-minute action happen while adapting to the various needs of the different organisations.
“This operation has been a twofold success: it enables the Foundation to support its partner organisations, offering them toys even though the collection events had to be cancelled, but it also enables Rejoué to maintain its social workshop activities over the period when its stores are closed.” Nathalie Oury, Director of Rejoué.
Copyright : @Rejoué
We put in place a dedicated team of employees from our work insertion programme to meet the Foundation’s challenge of preparing 8,000 toys and books for the partner organisations in record time.
Antonin Ziane, technical supervisor at Rejoué