Lorquin. Caritas Moselle launches its social utility transport to break the isolation of the most vulnerable.
At the initiative of the archpriest, the Caritas Moselle association is implementing a free transport solution in the Lorquin area for the most isolated and vulnerable people. Photo Laurent Mami
When you live in the countryside, it's hard to live without a car. Whether you're going shopping, seeing a doctor, going to the movies, or visiting friends, what do you do when you can't afford a vehicle, or simply when your age or health no longer allows you to drive? Taking the bus? It has to exist. Taking a taxi? Not affordable for everyone. Asking friends and family? That quickly reaches its limits.
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"It's a problem we've been thinking about for some time, with the pastoral team and the church councils," explains Gérard Nirrengarten, archpriest of Lorquin. "And Caritas Moselle has provided us with a solution." The charitable organization, recognized as being of public utility, has just set up a socially beneficial transport service. A model tested in the Bitche region since 2023, and which has proven itself.
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"Social workers, social workers, and associations identify the needs of the people they work with and forward their requests to a dedicated coordinator. The coordinator then arranges appointments between the beneficiaries and one of the volunteer drivers. Four types of travel are involved: daily errands, certain medical appointments not covered by VSL, administrative procedures, and social remobilization workshops. For the beneficiary, it's completely free. We pick them up and take them home," explains Jean-Louis Legrand, vice-president of Caritas .
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In the Bitche region, the program already has three vehicles. In the Lorquin area, it is starting with a new car funded through some sixty donations and support from the Moselle Department, the Sarrebourg Moselle-Sud community of communes, AG2R La Mondiale, Malakoff Humanis, the Moselle Conference of Financiers, and the Lorquin CCAS.
Five volunteer drivers will volunteer their time. The first trips are already scheduled, allowing a person from Fraquelfing to travel regularly to the Sarrebourg hospital.
This service relies on the investment of volunteer drivers. Five have already volunteered. Photo: Laurent Mami
"This project is led by people who love others. And it is a valuable aid for the most vulnerable and isolated," rejoices Jean-Pierre Jully, mayor of Lorquin, who is providing a space to park the Caritas vehicle. "Other initiatives of this kind are emerging in the region, under the aegis of the Red Cross or Familles rurales . This is a good thing and it complements the reflection we are conducting on transport and mobility, as communities," agree Roland Klein, president of the Sarrebourg Moselle-Sud community of communes, and Véréna Gossé, departmental councilor. This formula is perhaps more appropriate than on-demand transport, which has never really taken off."
In any case, if there is sufficient demand and if volunteer drivers are available, other vehicles could be made available in the coming months.
A third vehicle for February 2025
In the Pays de Bitche, Caritas therefore has two vehicles to ensure its solidarity transport across the territory: the first provided by the company Car Avenue de Sarreguemines in May 2023, another donated by the company Enedis in August of the same year . Two vehicles which can therefore transport a total of eight people at a time. However, within a few months, this figure will double.
"We have acquired a nine-seater, all-electric vehicle," says Jean-Louis Legrand, the vice-president. "It will be delivered next February." The association was able to make this purchase thanks to several financial backers from the Mutualité sociale agricole (Agricultural Social Insurance Fund), the Region, the Department, and the Communauté de communes du Pays de Bitche.
Le Républicain Lorrain
