From New Beginnings to Building Change: Why we started Not Alone 75 Paris!

I arrived in Paris on August 20th 2019. Like other immigrants, I moved here in search of a better life, though as an educated white male, I generally get categorized as an expat. These are two terms which get used interchangeably, though they are not the same. An expat usually arrives in a country for a predetermined amount of time before moving on, either back to their home country, or to their next professional destination - an immigrant does not. I started as the former and evolved into the latter. 

I obtained my Master’s Degree in International Management with a focus on Sustainability from the American University of Paris. I did this while living through the isolation, loneliness, and frustration of the Covid era. I also met the man who would go on to become my husband. The result of this period led me to stay in France indefinitely, thereby inadvertently becoming an immigrant.

In January 2024 I started volunteering on a regular basis for another Paris-based non profit. It turned out that volunteering gave me the connection to others in a way that I did not know I needed. As 2024 went on, I began to get increasingly involved with this particular non profit, eventually running programs aimed at engaging students and companies in direct volunteering activities, workshops, and more.

In December I approached my colleague Anja and asked her what she thought about starting our own association. To my excitement, she said yes, and that is how Not Alone 75 Paris was born.

Through Anja’s hard work and dedication, we were able to start our association with programs and projects already in place, and we are now looking to grow. We want people to get involved; students, companies, friends, family - everyone! We have space for volunteers, writers, program/project leaders and more!

I am personally thrilled with Not Alone 75 because I get to employ the use of Sustainability in our activities. Most people associate that term with the environment, and that is true, but it is also a question of how we as people interact with our environment. How do we thrive? How do we treat others that we see every day who might be in precarious situations? How do we improve other’s as well as our own lives? 

Reach out to us to learn more!