Last year, during an event held by the Cité Solidaire de Mulhouse organisation, Alain met the Fondation d’Entreprise VINCI pour la Cité, a VINCI corporate foundation that supports social inclusion through employment. As part of the initiative, the Foundation reached out to the municipality of Mulhouse in north-eastern France with the aim of supporting organisations working with local residents. The organisations shared an overall allocation of €100,000 donated by the Foundation and received support for a period of one year from one or several VINCI Group mentors.

The meeting with the Foundation was crucial for Alain, who is now actively involved in several charitable initiatives.

This year, he was put in touch with the Au fil de la Vie organisation which supports people of all ages with mental disabilities. He decided to become a mentor for the organisation and to participate in comforter production workshops. During these activities, organisation members are assisted by volunteers in sewing cuddly toys for children in hospital. As well as offering the organisation’s members a sewing task, these replacement comfort blankets enable carers to provide psychological support to hospitalised children, who, for health reasons, have had their own comforters taken away. Furthermore, the toys serve as a model to show children what is involved in operations they are due to undergo.

Alain also helps Au fil de la Vie volunteers to identify and quantify their needs before submitting applications for funding to the Fondation d’Entreprise VINCI pour la Cité. So far, the Foundation has donated €8,000 to the organisation, which has been used to purchase a wardrobe, lamps, sewing machines and other equipment. During the official presentation of the cheque, organisation members expressed their pride in being involved in a charitable toy-making activity for children in hospital. Alain, whose contribution has helped give people with mental disabilities a purpose, was particularly touched by this reaction.