Story By: Ernest Bio Bogore, Sub-Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Newsflash
This young woman in a spider woman costume is a real superhero for the homeless in her home town in France after dressing up after work each day to deliver food to local down and outs.
Oceane Gaixet, 28, is from Bordeaux, the hub of the famed wine-growing region that is also a port city on the Garonne River in southwestern France.
She said she decided she wanted to do something to help after meeting the growing number of homeless people on her way to work.
As a result, she started a crowdfunding project on the Leetchi platform with the idea of raising enough money to provide food for the homeless of downtown Bordeaux.
Oceane Gaixet said: “It was the friends who provided the funds for my first appeal. I got EUR 80 (GBP 72) and spent it in the Auchan supermarket buying food that was immediately distributed to around thirty homeless people.”
Local newspaper Sud Ouest reports that Oceane has repeated the operation twice. She raised EUR 106 (GBP 96) for the second fundraising project and EUR 342 (GBP 311) for the third.
For each campaign, Oceane is accompanied by her friends Audrey and Rodrigo who push the cart full of food.
Gaixet camouflages herself as a superhero each time, and as well as Spider-Man also appeared as supergirl.
She says: “It’s a great way to attract attention and give the project a bit of a buzz. Now the homeless know me. Last time, one of them even gave me a Spiderman cap.”
Oceane gets to know the people she helps as well, saying that she likes to engage them in conversation to find out how well she can help.
She said: “We obviously distribute a lot of food, enough to make sandwiches. But not only that. We also give out cigarettes, the stuff that really makes them happy, and toiletries.”
Oceane wants to continue by making the charitable gestures at least twice a year and for the fourth and last campaign of this year, which is up next towards the end of October, she also wants to include clothing as winter approaches.
Oceane Gaixet says: “We will focus on blankets and clothes that a lot of friends will give me. And also board games, it’s a request from them.
“This time I’ll be dressed as Deadpool.”
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