SolidarCité is an association that was created in July 2001 by the PPR Group to support its staff in their initiatives to help others especially though educational and social reintegration missions alongside charity associations, local authorities, the French education system, etc
The most positive aspect of SolidarCité Redcats is staff mobilization. The association relies entirely on staff involvement to lead and support projects. For all the projects developed and supported in this framework, the employees offer their skills as well as financial backing. It is a really groundbreaking concept, which communicates the pleasure that they have in giving their time and working alongside others on projects for the common good that they will be able to look back on with pride.
All sorts of initiatives have been launched, but the priority areas are education and social reintegration:
MOBILIZE FOR EDUCATION
From the beginning, SolidarCité Redcats became mobilized in actions for education. Following are some examples of SolidarCité Redcats projects :
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The initiative called "un jour, un collégien, un métier" (one day, one adolescent, one job) enables adolescents from a secondary school in a priority education area in France to have a day to discover a job previously chosen after contact with one of our employees, and benefit from a tutor that day. In 2005, 136 adolescents discovered our business as well as the job they had chosen to explore
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Making music and culture accessible to all. In partnership with the Music Conser¬vatory of Roubaix, SolidarCité organ¬ised a concert of Peter and the Wolf at La Redoute. 250 children of Roubaix schools and their parents were present. SolidarCité also contrib¬utes to install a computer-managed library, animated by voluntary employees.
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Tutoring: It consists in the tutoring of the young boarders by a volunteer employee to help them with their development and social integration. The tutoring programme within the company was set up with the André Canivez de Douai secondary school.
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Mentoring of students.
PROMOTING INCLUSION WITHIN COMPANIES
To collect funds to benefit partner organisations, SolidarCité Redcats organises some major, annual events, bringing together its volunteers and the employees who would like to get involved from time to time…
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« Espoirs en stock » (Hope in Stock) organizes the storage, sorting and redistribution of products donated by the companies based in the north of France. These articles of clothing and objects are shared out equally between the charity associations and the Kermesse event during which they are resold. Kermesse SolidarCité Redcats has been organized every year since 2005 and involves 2000 people including over 150 volunteers. The money raised by the event goes to six French charity associations: Aide Écoute Familles Professionnelles (association Dr TITRAN), ABC d'Ailleurs (educational projects in West Africa), Espoir (an association that works towards social integration in Roubaix by organizing ironing & sewing workshops), Les Enfants d'Ambotolampy (part of Children of Madagascar), Les Clowns de l'Espoir (The Clowns of Hope) and Les Amis des Enfants du Monde (Friends of the Children of the World), benefit from the money raised by this event.
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La Journée de l’espoir (The Day of Hope)
One Saturday morning per year, volun¬teers come to prepare the orders on a logistic site: the pay for the hours they work is calculated, matched by the company, then donated to the organi¬sations.
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SolidarCité Redcats encompasses lots of other commitments and partnerships towards social or professional reintegration, for example: personal services offered by the concierge desk (since September 2008), the organization of 'Christmas at La Redoute' for families followed up by social centers, assistance for jobseekers through the Local Plan for Inclusion and Employment (PLIE) in Wattrelos, etc.
OUR COMPANIES HAVE ALSO DEVELOPED SPECIFIC PARTNERSHIPS, FOR EXAMPLE:
Every year, Redcats USA organizes important projects for local communities and national events such as Angel Tree (donations for disadvantaged families), Belle of the Ball (donations of clothing, shoes, costumes, etc. to pupils of schools in disadvantaged areas), Gift of Sight Foundation, Meals on Wheels, New York Cares Coat Drive; Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure, Backpack Attack, Book-In-A-Bag, Groundhog Job Shadow Day...
In Hong Kong, our Redcats Asia division has decided to associate itself with the Salvation Army, which aims to help all those in difficulty, without distinction. One of its priorities is to offer urgently needed aid to the most disadvantaged members of society and to help them in the process of getting back into society. Redcats Asia supports this charity by giving it some of our ready-to-wear article prototypes. In China, our division provides financial aid by donating clothing to the Shanghai Charity Foundation. In Turkey, it has decided to support the charity Helps Hands through clothing donations.
The Redcats Nordic division financially supports 2 children's charities: The Swedish Children’s Cancer Foundation and The Association for Parents who have lost their Children.
La Redoute, in partnership with the ELLE Foundation, supports creation and young designers by financing three young women to study at design college (at the end of their course, certain students are invited to design a collection for La Redoute). A partnership with Maisons de Mode has also been signed to back young designers.
For several years, La Redoute has also supported the French National League against Cancer by including a range of lingerie specially designed for women affected by breast cancer in its catalogue.
The La Redoute collections also include a product for which part of the cost goes to the charity Force Femmes, which helps women aged over 45 to return to work – especially by encouraging working women to mentor them.
La Redoute UK has decided to sponsor the 8th Celebrity Mum of the Year Award in recognition of a mother who has managed to juggle her role as a parent and continue her career in the spotlight… Redcats UK also supports various other charities and local organizations and regularly donates products to different good causes and events.
La Redoute Spain has partnered the ARED Foundation since 2004. ARED is an NGO that works towards the reinsertion of excluded or marginalized women by offering them training possibilities and helping them to find work.
Vertbaudet supports Unicef
For Fall/Winter 2008, Vertbaudet has decided to renew its partnership with Unicef by proposing a product line called 'Vertbaudet for Unicef'. There are several angles to this communication drive including the creation of a special multi-channel logo, a 'Vertbaudet for Unicef' uniform for the sales teams, and promotion of the initiative in all the sales channels.
At the same time, Vertbaudet is launching an operation called 'a child born = a child vaccinated'. The idea is to insert a birth card into hospital maternity kits that the mother can then send back with her contact details. In exchange Vertbaudet offers a vaccination to Unicef. Finally, when existing customers bring in a new customer, rather than receiving a gift they can now choose to vaccinate 20 children. All funds raised will be donated to a vaccination program in the Central African Republic.
Given the success of the partnership with Macha Méril and the Asmaé association, Daxon has decided to continue its charity actions and has chosen to partner the French branch of SOS Children's Villages for the Fall/Winter 2008/2009 season, alongside the French actress Anny Duperey who represents this association. The actress is presenting two exclusive models from the Daxon collection and part of the money raised by sales of these products is donated to 'SOS Children's Villages' to help finance the construction of new SOS children's villages in France.