French associations
Roger Pardo and several IFAP members distribute meals to families in need in Miami © Grégory Durieu

Faced with the health crisis, many French associations in Miami are mobilizing. The French International Program Association (FIPA), the parents' association of students of the French program taught in five public schools in Miami, notably carried out Tuesday, May 5, for the second time, a distribution of hot meals to families in need at a school in the Overtown neighborhood.

" Today many parents have lost their jobs and can no longer feed their families, so it is a great satisfaction to be able to help them. ", Announces, very moved, Roger Pardo, the president of FIPA who is at the initiative of this distribution carried out alongside Alberto Carvalho, the director of the public schools of the county of Miami-Dade. " Each year we receive his support for the curriculum "French International Studies Program", a program in French dispensed in several schools of Miami, it is therefore important, during this period and at our level, to return the favor "Adds Roger Pardo who plans to repeat the operation every Tuesday and Friday, depending on the donations that his association will manage to collect.

For this solidarity distribution, a hundred full meals, from starters to desserts, were concocted by Frédéric Joulin, the chef of the Semilla restaurant in Miami Beach. " Mutual aid and solidarity are the key words in this unprecedented period "Said the Frenchman, who also prepares dozens of meals a week for the Saint Vincent de Paul association, which helps people in greatest need. " Generally, around twenty families push the door of this association, but today I see more than a hundred people lining up with children in front of the establishment, it breaks my heart. Despite my personal problems, I do not feel sorry for myself and I continue to fight while also trying to help others "Said the French chef, who is preparing to deliver around fifty meals to the nursing staff at Mount Sinai Medical Center in Miami Beach on Mother's Day this Sunday, May 10.

In this surge of solidarity, other French associations in the city also supported the Miami-Dade County school district by collecting donations to finance more than a thousand meals. This is particularly the case for the Union of French Abroad in Florida (UFE), the Florida-Caribbean section of the National Committee of French Foreign Trade Advisers (CCE), the Franco-American Chamber of Commerce of Florida (FACC), Alliance Française Miami Metro or Miami Accueil. Along with Laurent Gallissot, the Consul General of France in Miami, these French associations made their first solidarity distribution on Sunday May 3 for families and children who usually receive free meals at school.

Thanks to these numerous initiatives, the Miami-Dade County School District has already provided more than a million meals to families in need since the start of confinement.

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