Centraide kicked off its 42nd annual campaign Thursday with a rally that started on McGill College Avenue and made its way to Quartier des Spectacles.
Centraide works to fight poverty and social exclusion in Greater Montreal and will work with 350 agencies that help those in need around the Montreal, Laval and South Shore areas.
“Unfortunately, in Montreal on the island itself, one person out of four lives under the level of poverty and in the Greater Montreal area it’s one person out of six,” Lili-Anna Pereša, Centraide president, said.
This year’s campaign has taken the slogan “poverty has consequences” and has also garnered support from co-chairs Isabelle Marcoux, chair of the board of Transcontinental Inc., and Mitch Garber, CEO of Caesar’s Acquisition Co. and chairman of Cirque du Soleil.
The Centraide campaign will run until the end of December and hopes to raise $54 million this year.