Caritas Europa: Caritas colleague receives European Citizen Prize
Today [12 October], Caritas Luxembourg’s Paul Galles will receive the European Citizen Prize 2016 from the European Parliament for his work with migrants and refugees. Caritas organisations across Europe congratulate Paul for this reward, and are proud of this European recognition that “caritas in action” receives.
Paul Galles works as a coordinator of the solidarity volunteers at Young Caritas Luxembourg and as a facilitator of the network Young Caritas in Europe. In his role as coordinator, Paul has been very active organising spaces where refugees arriving to Luxembourg can meet young Luxembourgians. Viviane Reding, former Commissioner and current MEP, noticed Paul Galles’ work. She proposed him for this prize. During the national ceremony of the prize in Luxembourg, Ms. Reding said that President Juncker got from Paul the idea of “corps de solidarité” that he mentioned in his latest State of the Union speech. The European ceremony is taking place today at the European Parliament in Brussels.
Among the many projects that Paul has set up, the one he cherishes the most is when he reported directly from the “jungle” in Calais. “The action that touched me the most was when working with Catholic Relief Nord-Pas-de-Calais in the ‘Jungle’ refugee camp in Calais, France. Along with three young volunteers, we shared our experiences on social media and with media outlets. That journey generated enormous interest and a momentum that we seized to share ‘first-hand’ testimonies that were very personal and sincere.”
Read more about what this prize means for Paul and Caritas in his blog: “Caritas is a large family with an extremely strong message!”
