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Food bank Banque Alimentaire, is a bank like no other. Founded in 2002, the charitable organization collects and distributes food to those who have difficulty purchasing enough to avoid hunger, collaborating with companies and NGOs.
During these difficult times, and as Morocco declared a state of health emergency to cope with the spread of the virus, many vulnerable families have found themselves on the brink of starvation. The NGO’s executive director Sanae Alaoui told Yabiladi that the bank is doubling its efforts to help these families during these days.
What are the campaigns launched by the Food Bank amid the lockdown?
After the eruption of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Food Bank’s Board of Directors have decided to support Entraide Nationale (another charity association), by helping homeless people during the confinement.
We have already concluded a partnership with Entraide Nationale and we made sure to implement it these days to reach our target. We cover three regions: Marrakech-Safi, Casablanca-Settat and Rabat-Salé-Kenitra. That makes a total of 2,400 homeless people, having already received from us nearly 2,000 mattresses, 300 pillows and food. These baskets will be distributed weekly by May 30.
On the other hand, we have already distributed 1,200 food baskets to the families most affected by the lockdown, with breadwinners losing their jobs in Temara and Casablanca.
We are targeting 5,000 families in urban and rural areas. People in the cities are most affected by the consequences of the confinement as well as by the drought that we are experiencing.
Are you supported by NGOs, businesses and local authorities?
There are many companies, but if I give the name of an entity, I must mention the others too. There is an exceptional surge of solidarity on the part of the civil society, the agro-industrial sector and individuals that try as much as they can to support us in our mission.
In these conditions, and since we cannot carry out distributions alone, we seek the help of the local authorities, as they have the knowledge and the know-how.
We also call on them to identify needy families. They submit list proposals to us, which we are working on.
How can citizens support the poorest families through your bank?
We made a call for donations through our Facebook page. Citizens can bring back donations of any kind to our on-site depot. Moroccans are very generous and do not want to give so little. However, we are more interested in the frequency rather than the quantity of individual donations.
If a hundred citizens come each to donate a kilogram of flour and a can of sardines, that can make a huge difference. Can you imagine a million Moroccans doing it?
What are the current ambitions of the association to meet the needs of these families?
We hope that the generosity of Moroccans will live up to our ambitions. This is our wish. We receive a lot of requests. One of these requests is related to a town near Safi. The person mentioned about 5,000 families in need. Unfortunately, we can only support a maximum of 500 families. And it's only one town. So imagine the other rural communes of Morocco, who rely on subsistence agriculture?
The year is catastrophic because the damage already done by the Covid-19 will add to that of the drought. Our ambition has no limits but depends on the donations we can get.
