Hundreds of volunteers rolled up their sleeves at Moisson Montreal to fill up over 5,000 food boxes for people in need.
Many affiliated organizations close during the holiday season but the food bank wants to make sure no stomach is left empty going into the new year.
“Hunger doesn’t take holiday,” said Moisson Montreal executive director Richard Daneau. “So the trick is to supply food to provide food to make food available for people in need even during those days where the agencies will be closed.”
The biggest food bank in Canada filled over 20,000 boxes during the month of December.
“Because a lot of the organizations are closed and they can’t get to the extra food that they might need and it can be difficult, because your kids are home from school,” said longtime volunteer Jennifer Kirby.
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It takes more than 85 volunteers per day to run Moisson Montreal and Kirby has been a part of those volunteers for the past 10 years.
She said the show of support gave her chills.
“The people I’m here with today and super proud because we’re all about giving back to the community,” she said.
“It feels great to give a little bit,” said best selling author and spokesperson Justin Kingsley. “It’s a wonderful feeling; at the end of the day, you’re exhausted but you feel good cause you’re part of something good.”
The food boxes are filled with essentials and non-perishables but most importantly Moisson Montreal wanted to make sure to provide ingredients to cook with.
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“Usually we try to recover food that ends up being wasted,” said Daneau. “There are some ingredients that we never see like vegetable oil, flour, spices and sugar — those ingredients are important to cook with.”
Comfort food like chocolate, peanut butter and pasta are also a part of the equation this year as Moisson Montreal realizes those elements are just as important for their morale.
“There are treats every now and then,” said Kingsley. “We all need treats.”
The organization distributes close to 15 million kilos of food yearly, and with every dollar raised, $15 worth of food is added to those boxes.
More than 20,000 families will be gifted with food this holiday season.