Monaco’s actual Guardian Angels: helping the Riviera’s most disadvantaged
"Les Anges Gardiens de Monaco" (Guardian Angels of Monaco)
For twelve years, the association “Les Anges Gardiens de Monaco” (Guardian Angels of Monaco) has been helping families living in extreme poverty in Nice and its surroundings. While COVID-19 shook the French Riviera, both in a health and economic sense, the association founded by Bruna Maule Cassio continues to act to help hundreds of people living on the streets.
No one is quite sure how many hours they have worked. Day or night, rain or heat. For several long weeks now, the volunteers of the association “Les Anges Gardiens de Monaco” have been doing their best to support those most severely affected by an unprecedented crisis. “Since 17th December 2019, we have paid rent, paid for nights in hotels, offered sleeping bags to many desperate families,” explained the emblematic founder of the humanitarian association, Bruna Maule Cassio. “We have carried out many different missions and spent nearly €40,000 to help her families living on the streets.”
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The volunteers or “soldiers behind the curtain”
With the unfailing support of the Principality and its many ever-enthusiastic volunteers, those whom Bruna Maule Cassio likes to call affectionately “soldiers behind the curtain”, often parents themselves, never tire in serving coffee, drinks and other fresh fruit. Last Monday (13th July), as they left Place des Moulins, many of them still pulled together to load the food into the vans bound for Nice. Among them were reality TV star Martika Caringella and Roca Team basketball player Wilfried Yeguete, two kind-hearted, caring personalities ready to give their time for others. “It is one of the most important lessons in life,” says the founder of the Guardian Angels of Monaco. “We must never forget that we have little place to complain when we know what some people go through.”
Businesses across Monaco in solidarity with the volunteers
Determined to continue the battle they have been fighting for several weeks, despite fears surrounding the dreaded second wave, Bruna Maule Cassio and her troop of volunteers can count on the help of various figures within Monaco’s business sector. The company Bettina has thrown themselves at the task of making masks for volunteers of Les Anges Gardiens. “There is also the company Agrimontana, which gave us huge donations of honey, cereals and jam. The help we receive every day is incredible.” It comes as a vital lifeline, which has enabled the association to feed entire families since lockdown began.