Paris restaurant develops charity drive during coronavirus lockdown

After shutting their doors as part of the lockdown to stop the spread of Covid-19, the team running Paris restaurant Quartier Rouge started using the space to prepare meals for those in need. Three weeks later, a team of some 30 volunteers delivers up to 250 meals a day.

The restaurant Quartier Rouge in Paris's 20th arrondissement has converted its space into a charity drive for those in need during coronavirus lockdown. © RFI/Mike Woods

Every morning since 2 April, the restaurant Quartier Rouge in Paris’s 20th arrondissement has been accepting donations that go to health care providers, paramedics, less fortunate families and the underhoused. 

From behind two tables, restaurant manager Chérif Beldjoudi offers espresso to volunteers, donors and other familiar faces, many of them covered in protective masks. Today he’s looking for basic products like rice, pasta and lots of tomato sauce.

“Word is getting out,” he says modestly of the operation, keeping a close eye on what’s happening and making sure distancing measures are applied.

Behind him, two cooks prepare warm meals in the kitchen, three others prepare ingredients and assemble baskets in what in non-epidemic times serves as the restaurant’s dining area. 

Every morning, the team sets up tables with hand sanitizer, wicker baskets for cash donations, a sign-up sheet and a placard explaining what the operation is all about. © RFI/Mike Woods

Charity grew through word of mouth

Like restaurants around the country, Quartier Rouge shut its doors at midnight on 15 March, after the government ordered sites of public gatherings to close.

"We put everything away, gave out our remaining produce and closed down, like everyone," says staff member Kamal Lassouani.

As the epidemic progressed and hospitals in eastern Paris filled with patients infected with the new coronavirus, the team hatched the idea to use the kitchen and dining space to prepare meals to deliver to nurses and others care providers.

Donations are placed on the counter before being assembled farther back in the restaurant. In addition to food staples like bread, pasta and produce, the team also collect household products and protective masks. © RFI/Mike Woods

"We started with the idea of doing about 45 meals for health workers," Lassouani says. “Then people started coming with donations.” 

The capacity grew to 100 and then 150 meals per day. The team sollicited friends and distributors and established links with other charities, including the well known Restos du Coeur. 

A nearby community restaurant has also joined the operation, expanding the capacity for preparing meals, and a call for donations that began on 10 April had gathered more than 8,500 euros by Wednesday afternoon.

Restaurant manager Chérif Beldjoudi says word has spread and the team can now prepare up to 250 meals per day. © RFI/Mike Woods

 Worrying situation

As the operation enters its fourth week, Beldjoudi and Lassouani say they now deliver between 200 and 250 warm meals per day and give out 50 baskets to families and up to 70 to people in precarious housing situations. 

"It's good and bad, because it shows just how many people need help," says Lassouani of the way the operation has grown. 

"It's worrying. There are a lot of people who don’t ask for help, because they’re ashamed. Many are very discrete about joining the lineup."

Kamal Lassouani says it's good to see the charity grow, but worrying that it reveals how many people are in need. © RFI/Mike Woods

Another round of meals is assembled in the evening. Many are taken a squat in the nearby suburb of Montreuil, where 300 undocumented workers are sharing a space with no kitchen. 

Beldjoudi has worked with the squat to set up microwaves, hotplates, a refrigerator, cookware and other items.