Wanteraktioun closed its doors on 15/04/2023 after 5 months of emergency care
From 15 November 2022 to 15 April 2023, during the coldest months of winter in Luxembourg, 21 professionals in the field welcomed 1,559 different homeless people for 151 days and 150 nights. The 250 beds that make up the multifunctional Findel emergency facility will now be open to Winter Action beneficiaries from mid-November each year.
"Our associative partnership has now been active for more than two years. By bringing together and pooling the experience of our partner members Caritas Luxembourg, Croix-Rouge luxembourgeoise and Inter-Actions, we have been working together since January 2021 to meet the daily challenges and respond to the emergencies that punctuate the Action Hiver months. This season has been marked by an increase in the length of time we are open: 5 months that allow us to be as close as possible to our beneficiaries in order to meet their primary needs and offer them dignified shelter during the coldest months in Luxembourg", says Marc Crochet, President of the Dräieck The non-profit organisation since June 2022.
Three experienced field teams
Teams of professionals work 7 days a week during the winter months to provide temporary accommodation and distribute meals and essential hygiene products. Action Hiver also offers a place to rest during the day, socio-educational activities, access to healthcare in the form of occasional clinics[1], an emergency cloakroom and a social monitoring and counselling service.
"This season, we welcomed an average of 180 people per night, carried out 336 social monitoring operations, distributed 15,249 lunches, 54,028 breakfasts and dinners, and 698 items of clothing thanks to the emergency cloakroom. In addition, 63 different beneficiaries were able to take part in a variety of socio-educational activities", explains Cyrielle Chibaeff, head of the Dräieck The non-profit organisation.
The day centre, which is open from 12 noon to 4 pm, offers a hot meal, a place to rest and an emergency cloakroom, and organises socio-educational activities to promote social inclusion and integration.
The night shelter, open from 7.15pm to 8.45am, welcomes beneficiaries for overnight accommodation, organises evening meals and breakfast, distributes personal hygiene equipment, guarantees access to showers and offers support.
Field coordination is open from 11.30am to 4pm: registering beneficiaries, organising individual social monitoring, referring them to specialist services with the support of an internal and external network if necessary, and planning medical and nursing care are all part of the daily tasks.
36 hours of volunteering a day: essential support for the teams
The team of volunteers at Dräieck a.s.b.l. actively works alongside the professionals in the field to serve meals and hygiene products to the beneficiaries of the Winter Action. Their caring presence and ongoing commitment are an important pillar in ensuring that the WAK runs smoothly. The warm atmosphere that volunteers help to instil with their dynamism and motivation also helps those in need. 96 active volunteers took part in the 22/23 Winter Action season, offering 5,411 hours of voluntary work, an average of more than 36 hours a day.
To contact the team:
chibaeff@draieck.lu or +325 621 598 341
Wanteraktioun is supported and funded by the Ministry of Family Affairs, Integration and the Greater Region.
[1] On-call services are provided by Médecins du Monde, nurses from the Help network of the Luxembourg Red Cross and the Caritas Luxembourg community health project.