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Stronger, together!

The situation that the world is experiencing is unprecedented and has led us to rethink our business. While a large proportion of colleagues are currently working from home or on short-time working, voices were raised to implement actions to support our customers.

The On Seniors’ Side Foundation has committed to regularly call our most fragile customers. This is possible thanks to the collaboration of the Alma Nord-Pas-de-Calais association, which has guided us to check up on them and, if necessary, direct them to the health or social services adapted to their needs. Fourteen colleagues have volunteered to set up this system before extending it to all those who wanted to join the movement. There are now about a hundred Damart and Afibel colleagues on the phone and nearly 400 customers have been contacted !

For Guillaume Galasso who works in the IT department and volunteered: “Picking up the phone is already out of my comfort zone. It’s not easy but it’s a rewarding exercise”. In exchange for a little time, some listening and some chatting on various subjects, we have received a lot of recognition and thanks from our customers who are delighted with this initiative, and that is heart-warming!

The Foundation also supports another initiative: writing to the elders locked down in long-term care facilities to fight against isolation. In collaboration with Le Comptoir de L’Hirondelle (The Swallow’s Trading Post) association, weekly emails are sent to medical facilities in the Lille metropolitan area. The Les Blouses Roses (The Pink Coats) association, for its part, sends it on to its entire national network. Residents regularly receive mail, drawings, paintings, photos or even children’s songs to help them ease their daily lives. About 50 letters have already been sent.

Do you want to get involved with senior citizens too? Here are some ideas: Helping seniors during lockdown.

DAMART IS COMMITTED

“We are, originally, a brand that puts textiles at the service of health: in this unprecedented context of health crisis, it was natural for us to do our part, and to commit ourselves to the collective effort against the Coronavirus epidemic. Playing as a team is no longer an option. Congratulations to our teams who, on the one hand, have maintained the business in order to preserve the company’s continuity and, on the other hand, initiated actions for the community. We will all come out of this crisis transformed, with stronger values and an unprecedented will to build the future together.” Christophe Gaigneux – Damart Managing Director

All of the brand’s employees are working hard to play a part in the collective effort to fight the Covid-19 epidemic. Damart has joined the “Des Masques En Nord” operation initiated by the Lille University Hospital, the Lemahieu company and supported by Le Souffle du Nord, in order to provide 60,000 washable and reusable face masks to health professionals in the Lille Metropolitan area. In mid-April, our fifteen volunteer seamstresses sent a first batch of 1,000 so-called “Garridou” masks!

In collaboration with the city of Roubaix, Thermolactyl Kits have been distributed to law enforcement agencies and household waste collection staff working outdoors. Clothing perfectly adapted to their activities allows them to work in the best conditions.

Overnight kits for people in lockdown in Roubaix’s Hospital Centre and long-term care facilities were also distributed. With the current sanitary conditions, families are not allowed to bring clothes from home or to go home to get changed. These kits include underwear, socks and pyjamas for the elderly and parents whose children are hospitalized.

Xandres’ Sewing Machines Are Smoking

Xandres also started making washable and reusable fabric masks. They are intended for anyone who has to continue working outside the home: medical, catering, retail, schools, post office, etc. Many Damart and Afibel colleagues have actually received some!

LOTS OF DONATIONS

The Sedagyl and Delaby teams have donated small equipment to residential care facilities so that seniors could continue exercising in their rooms; despite the lockdown: pedal exercisers, mini-steppers and exercisers.

Afibel has donated clothes, T-shirts and fleeces for the medical staff so that they can protect patients in the best conditions.

Finally, Jours Heureux warmed hearts in hospitals by offering 960 boxes of chocolates and cookies.