Geneva and Lausanne, 7 June 2023 – A wave of generosity swept through the French-speaking cantons of Geneva and Vaud during Operation Saturday of Sharing. This remarkable mobilisation enabled an impressive 217 tonnes of food and hygiene products to be collected to support people in need.
Faced with a worrying economic situation marked by the repercussions of crises and soaring prices, many families today find themselves in a situation of food insecurity, with difficulties in meeting their most basic needs. Against this backdrop, supplying food banks and food aid associations has become a real challenge. However, thanks to the tireless efforts of those taking part in the operation, a new spirit of solidarity is emerging.
The people of Geneva and Vaud responded en masse to the call for solidarity to help the most needy in their respective regions. Greater Lausanne, Chablais vaudois and Yverdon saw 49 tonnes of food collected, while the canton of Geneva saw an impressive harvest of almost 168 tonnes. These figures show an increase of 13% for Vaud and almost 9% for Geneva compared with the June 2022 edition. We would like to express our deepest gratitude to the donors who took part in Samedi du partage.
It is with immense gratitude that we salute the tireless efforts of the more than 1,370 volunteers in total, from associations, companies, individuals, service clubs and schools, who gave their precious time to this solidarity action. Their unwavering commitment has been the driving force behind this success. We would also like to extend our warmest thanks to the retailers and their teams who so brilliantly orchestrated the logistics of the event and opened their doors to the volunteers over the two memorable days of 2 and 3 June.
From this week, the food collected will be sent to the food banks, where it will be sorted, stored and redistributed to people in precarious situations through our partner associations and social services.
We are proud to announce that the next edition of Samedi du partage is scheduled for 24 and 25 November 2023, to continue this incredible chain of solidarity.
