It’s Valérie Plante’s first holiday season as mayor of Montreal and she says, ‘Tis the season to give back.’
READ MORE: Moisson Montreal packs holiday food baskets for those in need
Friday morning, she volunteered at Moisson Montreal in an effort to show her commitment to the city’s most vulnerable.
“We’re very ambitious in terms of affordable and social housing and this is something we’ll be working on in the coming weeks and months,” Plante said.
Over the last two years, the organization says it’s taken 100,000 volunteer hours to hand out $80 million worth of food to those in need.
READ MORE: Moisson Montreal to charge for its services
Representatives point out about 5,000 Montrealers who face hunger every day are under the age of 18.
“Make a donation and by doing so, you make a difference in the lives of 137,000 Montrealers,” said Richard Daneau, executive director of Moisson Montreal.
Now, they’re looking at investing in a food processing unit to extend the shelf life of food.
The city says food security and addressing homelessness are policy priorities going into the new year.
READ MORE: Food and fun at Moisson Montreal’s Children’s Day to raise funds for city’s hungry
“Our administration will be putting a lot of effort to make sure that our decisions and processes that we’re putting together are very transparent,” she said.
The aim is to spend more time on the ground with food banks and shelters.