MARSEILLE, France (AFP) — They pawned objects worth up to 50 euros ($50) in order to make ends meet and will now receive them back for Christmas in an act of solidarity and charity by a municipally owned pawnshop in southern France.

“We’ve seen a sharp increase in objects being pawned,” said Jean-Dominique Faedda, head of Credit Municipal d’Avignon, which runs pawnshops in four southern cities.

“We wanted to make a gesture for those most vulnerable by allowing them to recuperate without charge objects worth up to 50 euros that they pawned,” he told Agence France-Presse, confirming information first published by the daily La Marseillaise.

Some 77 people are eligible to benefit, who have mostly pawned small pieces of gold jewellery that have more sentimental than resale value.

The city of Avignon, which owns the pawnshops, has allocated 6,000 euros ($6,300) for the effort.

Only municipalities have had the right to operate pawnshops in France, under laws passed during the reign of Louis XIII in the early 17th century to combat exploitation.

Some five million people live under the poverty line in France, an increase of 1.4 million in two decades, according to the independent anti-poverty group l’Observatoire des Inegalites (Inequality Observatory).