There were some people at a Moisson Montreal event who thought that the band Lendemain de Veille (Hangover) was the ideal group to party with. Even if the reason for the event was a bit more, sober.
“We’re preparing Christmas baskets of food,” explains Richard Daneau, the organization’s executive director, “because many community organizations or agencies are closing during the Christmas time. “So we wanna give extra provisions to the people in need.”
It’s called the “Holiday Harvest” and this marks the event’s 10th year. It’s part of an effort to produce 16,000 food baskets for families in need this holiday season. On Saturday alone, volunteers were hoping to pack as many as 4,000 of them in about two hours. Distribution started later in the afternoon.
To raise funds to help produce the baskets, the organization started a five-week campaign that ends Dec. 31. So far, they’ve raised about $45,000, which they’ve tried to use as wisely as possible.
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“If we give away 4,000 baskets that’s worth $50 each,” Daneau explains, ” that would make $200,000 and most probably would’ve cost us 1/15th of that to produce.”
There were close to 200 volunteers, including some first-timers like actress Debbie Lynch White.
“Actually, one of my friends, actress Elise Gilbault, brought me here,” she grins.
Others brought families, and say that compiling the baskets, though it’s a small gesture, can help make a big difference in somebody’s life.
That’s why Glen Acton came. “My family and some friends are here today to help to support the cause, to make sure to do whatever we can from our end.”
“Because there’s a lot of poverty,” Lynch White adds, “and there’s a lot of families that don’t have anything to eat.”
It’s something that, in spite of the merrymaking, they don’t want Montrealers to ever forget.
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