This week on Focus Montreal: June 4

MONTREAL — Focus Montreal introduces Montrealers to people who are shaping our community, bringing their stories into focus.

It airs on Saturday at 5:30 p.m. and on Sunday at 7:30 a.m., 11:30 a.m. and at midnight.

Take a look at who we’re meeting this week on Focus Montreal:

9:13 Focus Montreal: Oral immunotherapy treatement

Bye Bye Allergies: Oral immunotherapy treatment

More than 100,000 kids in Quebec live in fear of food, with food allergies more than tripling in the past 20 years.

One local group is pinning its hopes and fundraising on a promising new treatment.

Volunteers with Bye Bye Allergies want to raise $500,000 to open an oral immunotherapy clinic at CHU Sainte-Justine Children’s Hospital.

The idea behind the treatment is to feed children with severe allergies small doses of the allergen in order to provoke immune responses over time and desensitize kids to the allergy.

Though a lot of work remains to be done, if successful, more than 200 children a year would be treated at this clinic.

Dr. Philippe Begin an allergist from the Université de Montréal discusses the revolutionary new treatment. Also joining him in studio are Anne-Sophie Tétrault and Cynthia Geiring, two mothers of allergic kids.

With an 85 per cent success rate, the treatment is reviving hope of normalcy for kids and parents alike.

While the treatment is available in the United States through private practices or clinical trials, it is not yet available in Canada.

For more information visit the Bye Bye Allergies website.

5:06 Focus Montreal: MADA celebrates with gala event

MADA Community Center

MADA is a non-profit community center with a mission to care for people in need.

While many other food banks in Montreal are contracting under pressure, MADA is growing with a new center to call home. MADA finally has the capacity to do much more for the community.

The new kitchen allows it to significantly increase the amount of food it prepares daily.

Its new ‘drive-thru’ allows clients to pick up food parcels with discretion and confidentiality.

Mada will be celebrating its accomplishments on June 7 during the annual gala at Le Windsor Ballroom.

MADA’s development officer Myriam Sebag dropped by Focus Montreal to talk about the gala evening  and how MADA operates so successfully.

For tickets to the event or for more information visit the MADA Community Center website.

6:36 Focus Montreal: Kevin Parent

Kevin Parent

Twenty years into his musical career,  singer-songwriter Kevin Parent just released his second English album. The album is called “Kanji” and was inspired by Parent’s travels to Japan.

The Greenfield Park native says he purposely made the album short with only eight tracks  to respect quality over quantity.

Reaching beyond language barriers the music speaks for itself.

Global Montreal’s Elysia Bryan-Baynes sat down with Parent during rehearsals earlier this week to catch-up.