Raymond Etienne, President for life and Founding Member
The President of the Foundation Abbé Pierre was awarded on July 14th, 2013 the rank of Officer of the Legion of Honour.
Raymond Etienne was designated Knight of the Legion of Honour and Officer of the National Order of Merit in 1992, year during which the Foundation was recognised as promoting the public interest.
In 2009, Raymond Etienne retired after 42 years spent in charge of the Emmaüs community of Peltre in Metz (1967-2009).
..."How many families will not be able to pay their gas or electricity bills in July? And to fight that, many intentions and little actions. Vacant housings are everywhere, in Paris and the rest of the country. Comfortable and available. Why do they remain empty when so many are homeless or badly housed? The requisitions I mentioned to Mrs Duflot during the presentation of our Report last January were finally not numerous enough... even is they are not sufficient; they are at least an important first step! Don't they see the urgency? To effectively lead the fight against bad housing, we must declare the Winter 54 everyday. Let's build and not leave any housing empty. Now!"
Excerpt from the President's last editorial, What About the Others (Et Les Autres), July 2013.