About Roots
Started with a soldering iron
Roots is a grassroots association working in Grande-Synthe, near Dunkirk.
We provide practical daily services that help people meet essential needs with dignity: access to water, hygiene, charging, Wi-Fi, cleaner living areas and community support.
Where we came from
In September 2017 Thomas Gilbert began collecting old laptop batteries and rebuilding them into power banks for people living outside near Dunkirk. A charged phone meant a call home, a lawyer, a warning. That one-person project became Roots. To confirm
By 2019 the team was also collecting litter and managing waste around the living sites. In 2020, through the pandemic, we ran cold showers and maintenance, then moved to a space at the monastery and launched the hot shower project. To confirm
In 2021, when the state stopped providing reliable water, we started carrying it in ourselves, thousands of litres a day, and building our own water points. We moved to a bigger warehouse in 2022 and again in 2023. In 2024 we campaigned for fixed water points, and that summer the state installed two. To confirm
Today Roots runs four daily services from one distribution site, staffed entirely by volunteers, funded entirely by donations.
Everyone should have access to drinking water within a safe walking distance. We will keep saying so until the French state treats it as the right it is.
Year by year
Every line- 2017
Roots starts as a one-person project recycling laptop batteries into power banks.
- 2019
Litter collection and waste management added.
- 2020
Cold showers and maintenance during the pandemic. Late 2020: move to the monastery, hot shower project launched.
- 2021
Water project begins after the state stops providing reliable access. Large eviction at the end of the year.
- 2022
Move to a larger warehouse, on-the-ground team expanded, electronics workshop paused. 10,800 hot showers. 140 volunteers.
- 2023
Warehouse moves again for more workspace. Water delivered by van throughout.
- 2024
Campaign for fixed water points; the state installs two in summer. Hot showers relaunched four days a week. Community hub open five days a week.
- 2025
Roots to supply
- 2026
Roots to supply
How we work
Reliable, daily.
Services that are there every day are worth more than grand gestures. We show up.
Dignity.
People are never a problem to be managed or a story to be sold. We ask before we photograph, and we never show distress for effect.
Practical.
Water, showers, power, bins. Fundamental needs first, and we build most of our own kit.
Transparent.
Every figure is dated. Every year has a report. No government money, so we answer to our donors.
The people behind it
Roots is run by a president and a board of trustees, a coordinator on the ground and more than a hundred volunteers a year. To confirm