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The Restos du Coeur have been around for 38 years!
December 2023
As Coluche put it live on Europe 1 on 26 September 1985:
"When there are food surpluses left and right and they are destroyed to maintain market prices, we could recover them and also see what we can do with farmers who have surpluses or with sponsors... And then we'll try one day to set up a big canteen maybe this winter, free of charge. There you have it. Just an idea that came to me!”
Not only did Coluche's appeal find an echo in France, but it was also heard across the border by a few students at French-language Free University of Brussels (Solvay Business School), who would get involved in launching a project to that end. Thanks to their hard work and motivation for mutual support, the first Belgian Restos du Coeur opened their doors on 21 December 1985.
It was a "Eureka moment,” a brilliant, temporary idea... Other initiatives sprang up in several cities to such an extent that a Resto du Coeur of Belgium Federation had to be created in 1991.
38 years later, the 20 Restos du Coeur of Belgium continue to mobilise and fight against poverty more than ever.
