Every week, there is an army of speedy volunteers that assembles in the MADA Community Center’s kitchen, sorting and packing hundreds of boxes with fresh kosher meals ready to be sent off to some 650 homes.
The Shabbat to Share program aims at nourishing the less fortunate in the community.
“These meals are for those who are lonely and in need or just not capable of cooking a homemade meal,” said MADA event co-ordinator Shterna Pinson.
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MADA is a volunteer-based organization that has been operating for 25 years in Montreal from its building off Décarie Boulevard.
The Jewish organization’s food bank feeds more than 4,500 people on average per month, with an operating cost of approximately $500,000 per year.
“At MADA, we do it all the time, week in, week out,” Pinson said.
“We make sure everybody can receive that warmth and that human touch with a delicious, fresh meal.”
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Volunteers are the backbone of the Shabbat to Share operation and are involved in every aspect from start to finish, packing and delivering each meal by hand.
Each full box comes with a hearty kosher meal, including the famous challah bread, and a flower.
Elisa Gross runs the well-oiled weekly machine. She says the meals are essential, but the personal interaction between volunteers and recipients is just as important for some.
“Aside from the meal, many of these people are getting a visit from someone every week, someone who cares. For some people, it’s the only contact they will have,” Gross said.
That personal contact has just as much of an effect on the volunteers, according to Hellen Hakak, who has been delivering the boxes door-to-door for years.
“To see a person smile and to touch base with somebody who’s all alone, it just gives me pleasure,” she said.