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The figures have just been released and they are painful. Together, the Restos du Coeur and the Mobile Restos du Coeur distributed 1,621,489 meals in 2023 -- unprecedented in the history of the Restos du Coeur of Belgium, which for the past 4 years have seen the number of aid requests continue to rise. No, precariousness is not abating! While the Restos du Coeur recorded a 18 % increase in the number of meals distributed compared with 2022, it is worth noting that this increase is even more spectacular when 2023 is compared with a "normal” or “reference" year like 2019. The 670,000 meals distributed that year meant a 141 % increase in 2023.

In recent months, the Restos du Coeur have been welcoming many blended or single-parent families, pensioners, students, former beneficiaries returning, and also "working poor" individuals who do not earn enough to cover basic expenses (housing, bills, fuel), even though they work full-time. Faced with this increase, it is remarkable to note that the teams of the Restos du Coeur are trying to adapt so as to find solutions to carry out their various missions in optimal fashion.

The right to food is a fundamental right. Food aid should not exist, yet it is of crucial importance for those in precarious situations. Measures put in place by the government have their merits but are not sufficient. In this difficult economic context, how much longer can we continue to support those in precarious situations if poverty continues to grow without respite? This situation is untenable in the long term.