Sport as a vehicle for integration!
On May 21, 2019, Decathlon Foundation advisors met at Inesis Golf Park, (Nord) to validate the solidarity projects of Decathlon teammates.
Each project is the result of a personal story between Decathletes and beneficiaries!
Come and discover their stories.
SPORT FOR PROGRESS
Christelle, Ludovic, Jean-Michel and Mélanie, all four Decathlon employees, have decided to support the Ecole de la Deuxième Chance association in Arras and Liévin (Nord), which helps young people aged 16 to 25 with no job or training. Thanks to their involvement, several dozen young teenagers will be able to rediscover the pleasures and benefits of sport thanks to the acquisition of bicycles and scooters. This equipment, financed by the Decathlon Foundation, will also enable some of them to apply for internships at the Dourges warehouse and in the Decathlon Arras store.
The experiment has already been a success, with four young people from the association discovering the trades offered by Decathlon through various internships.
We wish all the other young people at the Second Chance School all the best for the future!
PROGRAM PASS
"Rugby has been for me a formidable tool for sporting achievement, but above all academic and social, and one of the pillar projects of this association is to participate in the integration of young people in difficulty, through sport, and rugby in particular. In my opinion, sport is one of the essential vectors for education and the learning of values, which will enable these young people to find the resources and reference points to better integrate following their accompaniment", as Théo explains.
Théo and Melvyn, both sport co leaders in the Portet-sur-Garonne store, have decided to get involved with the Rebonds association, which helps young people who have dropped out of school through rugby and other activities such as mountain biking, boxing and climbing.
The Decathlon Foundation is providing financial support for the sports equipment that will enable over a hundred young people to take part in adapted training and sports courses.
ELAN SPORTIF
In Mulhouse, Jean-Denis, Mervé and Ylvinn wanted to get involved with the Elan Sportif association, which offers young people from disadvantaged neighborhoods an educational path to social integration through sport.
"I wanted to get involved in this project with the Foundation because I believe that sport plays a very important role in the reintegration of people in difficulty. Supporting people in difficulty through sport can give them a new lease of life, or offer them new opportunities," says Mervé, who is very sensitive to these issues.
Thanks to the support of the Decathlon Mulhouse store and a financial donation from the Decathlon Foundation, the association will be able to purchase sports equipment for the young people monitored by Elan Sportif.
What's more, the Mulhouse store is committed to offering internships to young people from the association who would like to find out more about the various Decathlon professions.
ASSOCIATION SARAH
The SARAH association was created, in 2017 by Delphine Pion, wife of Sylvain, Decathlonien within the Decathlon Besançon store. The association accompanies and supports disabled children and their families through inclusion and sport.
Delphine and Sylvain are the parents of Sarah, a little girl with Angelman syndrome, and are familiar with the problems of supporting disabled children in rural areas.
Delphine wanted to create a meeting place for healthcare professionals and sports activities adapted to each individual.
The Decathlon Foundation is providing financial support for the construction of an outdoor sports field for disabled children. The store team, meanwhile, is committed to organizing several solidarity sports events for the association.
MALAIKA WA KIBERA
Angels of Hope is a Kenyan association that provides day-to-day support for orphans and AIDS-affected children in Kenya's largest slum: Kibera.
Pascaline, Isabelle and the whole Decathlon Nairobi store team were keen to support the Angels of Hope association and enable these young children to believe in the future through education and sport.
Isabelle therefore created a partnership between the association and a school in the slum, enabling the latter to welcome thirty children a year into the school.
The Decathlon employees involved will be leading sports sessions at the school throughout the year.
The Decathlon Foundation helps finance the school's sports field.
Thanks to this project, over one thousand three hundred children will have access to a daily meal, as well as an education, as Pascaline reminds us: "Kenya is a country of impressive contrasts that amaze us every day. It's impossible for me to live this experience to the full without telling myself that I'm not making any personal commitment to help the Kenyan people in need. I'll be facilitating the project and helping the Kenyan sports leaders to make it solid. It's unbearable for me to hear that children can't have access to their primary vital and social needs, so I'll do my utmost to ensure that the children in this orphanage grow up with food and water and can develop through sport."
The Foundation team