At the start of the French lockdown 17, a large number of citizen initiatives emerged in Nantes to provide support and show solidarity with people who were isolated and food insecure.
In order to better coordinate the efforts, the Municipality of Nantes established an umbrella mechanism, “Nantes Mutual Aid”.
Only two days after the start of the lockdown, 800 people had volunteered. Some 1 400 families were reached with aid, and 3 326 packages were distributed during the initial period March-May.
But beyond that, Entraide Nante has continued to flourish in the intervening six months - as a virtual “platform” on the Municipal website and Facebook, promoting a much wide array of providing social, health and economic activities to promote.