The Safran Foundation for Integration supports La Bergerie de Berdine

The La Bergerie de Berdine association aims to accommodate people, mainly young people, in great difficulty (people with addictions, school drop-outs, people experiencing family and/or professional breakdowns, disabling illnesses, etc.), to help them regain a proper place in society. In 2019, the Safran Foundation for Integration chose to support this initiative because it corresponds to one of its purposes, which is to help young people who are seriously excluded.

In 1977, the association acquired the ruined hamlet of Berdine, on the plateau of Courennes, in the Vaucluse (Southeastern France), which it undertook to restore. By contributing to its reconstruction and the development of its activities (bakery, honey farm, cheese shop, carpentry, pottery, sheepfolds...), the people welcomed at Berdine rebuild their lives, thus regaining a taste for life. Since its creation, La Bergerie de Berdine has welcomed 150 to 200 new residents every year.

 

“Starting from 2020, the aim is to host 40 young people under 35 years of age every year.”

The community lives on 60% of the fruits of the labor of its inhabitants, with the remaining 40% coming from public or private donations or private individuals. The Safran Foundation for Integration is thus contributing financially to the construction and fitting out of spaces to develop new activities: installation of a recycling plant, manufacture of a plant dryer, creation of a carpentry workshop and a transformation workshop... And installation of a shop selling local products. It also accompanies the setting up of taster workshops to the dry stone construction trade and professional training courses.

 

Learn more about the “La Bergerie de Berdine” association