Description
The calendrier de l’Avent inversé, or reverse Advent calendar, turns the December countdown around: instead of opening a window each day, the family puts one useful item a day into a box, then gives the box to a charity for people living on the street or in poverty.
The idea started in Belgium in 2016 with the association Solidarité SDF Mons. In France the operation is coordinated by the volunteer community Will for Change, which took it over from La Bulle Inattendue. It lists collection points and city contacts on its site and passes the boxes to partner charities. In 2021 it collected more than 10,000 gifts.
The box is a carton of about 45 × 35 cm, with a label saying whether it is for a man, a woman or a child. Guides suggest warm clothes in good condition (socks, scarf, hat), hygiene products, period products, a torch, lip balm, a book or a crossword booklet, food that keeps, such as biscuits, chocolate, tea or tins, and a handwritten note. Fresh or home-made food, alcohol, tobacco, razors and cash are not accepted. Boxes can also be given directly to the Restos du Cœur, the Secours populaire or the Croix-Rouge, after calling the local branch.
Strengths
- It costs no more than what goes into the box, and old clothes in good condition can be part of it.
- Children can fill the box with their parents, one item a day, and learn what someone on the street lacks.
- Published lists say what to put in and what to leave out, so the boxes hold things the charities can hand out.
Weaknesses
- Will for Change’s collection deadline is around 17 December, not 24 December, so the box has to be ready early.
- Collection points depend on volunteer referents in each town, and where there is none, the box has to go straight to a charity.
- Most items are bought new, and a box helps one person for a short time.
Who it is for
Families, classes, offices and associations in France who want an Advent ritual that ends in a gift to someone in need, and can drop the box at a collection point by mid-December.