Under the urge of several companies of the platform, the idea of gathering “fruit and vegetable donations” by the Union for students has been validated by the National Union of Fruit and Vegetable Importers/Exporters and of Saint-Charles Export.
Last Tuesday, March 16th, Saint-Charles International therefore launched the “Vitamins for Students” operation.
In the continuity of the operations implemented in 2020 by the platform for healthcare workers, the professionals of Saint-Charles wanted, this time, to show their support to young people, who are especially affected by the consequences of this sanitary crisis and often find themselves in highly precarious situations.
“Saint-Charles International has been the founding sponsor of the UPVD Foundation for the past four years, and participates as a group in numerous operations to help students with their professional integration for example, to support their entrepreneurship and ensure the success of students with special needs,” explains Yvan Auguet, president of the University and UPVD Foundation. With this operation, the companies at Saint-Charles International go one step further and answer to the needs created by the crisis by offering fruit and vegetables, the “healthy” foods that are often lacking.
4 dates for the distribution of fresh fruit and vegetables each week to approximately 200 students
The goal of this operation is to set up a collection of fruit and vegetables from donations, picked up each Tuesday morning from members of the National Union of Fruit and Vegetable Importers/Exporters - Saint-Charles, until the 13th of April included. All the products collected will then be delivered to the University of Perpignan Via-Domitia, which will organize the distribution to students in precarious situations, with the help of the CROUS of Montpellier-Occitania and volunteers from the Secours Populaire.
During the first operation on Thursday, March 18th, 470 kilos of fresh fruit and vegetables were gathered in fabric bags usually used by Saint-Charles Export during international fairs. This way, 150 to 200 students were able to fill their own baskets with 3 to 4 kilos of fruit and vegetables.
“It is a very nice initiative to help us,” says a student named Hamza. “Because of the sanitary crisis, our financial situation is complicated. We are given quality products and it’s great! I usually can’t afford to buy fresh fruit and vegetables like this.”
Among the products collected, there were oranges, mandarins, zucchinis, tomatoes, peppers, grapefruit, sweet potatoes, broccoli, carrots, cucumbers, eggplants, lemons and melons.
In addition to this operation, Saint-Charles Export also donated local fruit juices (peach, apple, apple/ginger, cherry and apple/pear) usually delivered to clients and suppliers of companies from the platform at various international events the group participates in and which were canceled in the last year due to the sanitary crisis.
This operation will be renewed on March 23rd, March 30th and April 13th.
Testimonies from students
“I arrived at UPVD in October as a master student in High Performance Computing. I was not able to find a job to finance my studies. I live on campus so I am happy about this donation of fruit and vegetables, especially the oranges and mandarins. They are expensive so I don’t usually buy a lot of them when I do my groceries.”
“It’s the kind of products I usually buy but with this type of donation, I can save one to two weeks on groceries. This kind of initiative helps students a lot.”
It is with a lot of pride and humility that this operation was implemented for students. The Saint-Charles platform is honored, through these various donations, to contribute, as modestly as it may be, to improving the daily lives of those who will be the future contributors to our companies, and to maintain the competitiveness and attractiveness of Saint-Charles International.
This operation, made possible thanks to the contribution of many companies, shows the strength of the group, as well as the resilience of the platform managers and employees in the face of this crisis!
In such a context, and despite the economic and organizational difficulties encountered, the companies of Saint-Charles demonstrate that together, through this modest contribution to students, we must not lose our solidarity and humanity!
About Saint-Charles International
Saint-Charles International is the leading European platform for the marketing, transport and logistics of fresh fruit and vegetables. Located in Perpignan (Pyrénées-Orientales), it has a worth of 1.95 billion euros [2.33 billion USD], with 1,768,000 tons of fruit and vegetables for 2,200 direct jobs. The flow mostly comes from the Mediterranean.
For more information:
Saint Charles International
Phone: 06 79 30 57 07
communication@saintcharlesinternational.fr
UPVD
Fanny Guyonnet, communication manager
Phone: 06 27 55 18 44
Fanny.guyonnet@univ-perp.fr