The Mobile Solidarity Truck from the Melun Red Cross and Icam Grand Paris Sud Hits the Road to Support Isolated Individuals

Icam
11 Apr 2025

On April 10, 2025, Icam and the Melun branch of the Red Cross officially launched the operation of this mobile solidarity truck—a humanitarian project that students from Human’Icam, the campus’s humanitarian association at Grand Paris Sud, have been working on for two years.

 

The Red Cross’s solidarity truck is now ready to travel across the Seine-et-Marne department, covering the 39 municipalities served by the Melun local unit. On board is a team of volunteers who will provide food, essential goods, and social support to vulnerable and isolated people who are unable to visit Red Cross facilities. This is the very mission of “Red Cross on Wheels,” an initiative that began in 2012.

A Mobile Truck Born of Commitment and Teamwork

To bring this project to life, Marie-Thérèse Vanneste, President of the Melun Red Cross, reached out to Icam. Twenty students from the Human’Icam association worked for two years on outfitting and optimizing the vehicle. In their second year, Icam engineering students are required to dedicate part of their time to a project-based solidarity initiative.

The students handled the vehicle’s interior design (flooring, shelving, electricity), while the bodywork was completed by professionals. A total of 13 students specialized in project management and 6 in design and construction were involved for two years. The technical phase lasted six months, followed by a year and a half of construction work.

The initiative was also supported by the city of Melun, the Grand Paris Sud metropolitan area, Inner Wheel, Rotary Club, and Icam Alumni. Human’Icam successfully persuaded donors and partners to support the project and managed to raise the €80,000 needed, thanks to contributions from the city of Melun, the regional and departmental Red Cross, the Auchan Foundation, Inner Wheel, and the Rotary Club.

A Team of Volunteers, Including Icam Students, Helping Communities in Need

The Melun Red Cross’s mobile unit offers several essential services:
– A dedicated storage area for food and hygiene products.
– A listening space to guide beneficiaries toward social and medical services.
– Social assistance and digital services, delivered during monthly tours that cover five towns per week, run by trained volunteers.
Among these volunteers are Icam students, including Axel Fromonot, President of Human’Icam and the “Red Cross on Wheels” project lead.

During the truck’s inauguration on April 10, Pierre Richard, President of the Seine-et-Marne branch of the Red Cross, presented the students with a certificate of recognition for their work on the project and their upcoming commitment to the outreach tours.