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Jean-Charles Naouri: "Our network of stores in Ile-de-France have joined forces on behalf of the children of Margency"

23 June 2010

"Countering the loneliness of sick children,” an effort implemented at the Hospital of Margency, is being supported by the recently-created Casino Foundation. Is this commitment to children a new direction in your Group’s social outreach policy?

Jean-Charles Naouri: Helping underprivileged children is one of the areas of social and humanitarian action to which the Casino Group has been committed for more than ten years, in France as well as in emerging markets where we operate, such as Brazil, Colombia and Thailand.
In 2009, we created a corporate foundation in order to bring together and increase the effectiveness of all of the Group’s actions, focusing them on specific local needs and issues. The Casino Foundation has launched this major initiative in France to respond to the loneliness that can be experienced by hospitalised children and our partnership with the Children’s Hospital of Margency, a French Red Cross institution, marks the first step in this campaign.

What are the issues at which this project is aiming and what support is being provided by the Casino Foundation?

Jean-Charles Naouri: This action, being implemented alongside the Association Docteur Souris, contributes to the fight against the feelings of isolation and loneliness of children and adolescents who are hospitalised for extended periods due to serious illness. We are providing them with laptop computers, allowing them to communicate with their friends and family as well as to take advantage of digital entertainment and educational support. We are furnishing more than 100 laptops, meaning one for each bed at the hospital - equipped with Wi-Fi and internet access and completely secure software that has been specially designed for children.
In addition to providing software and other equipment, the Casino Foundation installed the server and provides complete weekly maintenance of the system in collaboration with students from a computer engineering school. It is a long-term program that also fits with the educational program that Margency is developing for its young patients. Two other children’s hospitals, in Marseilles and Saint-Etienne, will be similarly equipped in 2010.

What is the connection between initiatives like this and the strategy or culture of a group like Casino?

Jean-Charles Naouri: Mutual Support has been a core value for our Group since it was created in 1898. With our size, our central position within the community and the proximity of our stores to the local population, Casino has the opportunity to affect and mobilise numerous sources of energy. This dynamism starts with our employees, who chose the partnership with Docteur Souris from among the different projects that were submitted to them. Our employees also are working on behalf of the children of Margency by organising fundraising in our stores: the network of Franprix supermarkets, Petit Casino stores and Casino Cafeterias in the Ile-de-France region. Beyond the work of the Casino Foundation, this involvement is proof of the values of Mutual Support and involvement that guide the daily actions of the Group and its employees.