Share the Warmth delivery truck breaks down, endangering food security for hundreds of Montreal families

An organization in the south west that feeds hundreds of families every month has hit a bump in the road.

One of the trucks Share the Warmth relies on to bring food out to the community broke down.

Without a new solution, some of the Montreal’s most vulnerable might not get what they vitally need. Share the Warmth delivers nearly 1,000 food boxes per month to families in need in the south west.

According to executive director Stephanie Taillon, demand has skyrocketed during the novel coronavirus pandemic.

“We still have about 20 new families a week just in September and October. It’s been crazy,” said Taillon.

The organization’s two trucks are vital tools to get the food out to those who need it. Because of COVID-19, they can’t have hundreds of people picking their food up in person. Even if they could, huge boxes full of enough food for a family of six are not easy to lug around town.

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“Some people need to take two or three busses to come here, because there’s not that much food banks here in south west,” explained Taillon.

At the end of last week, Taillon got some very worrisome news.

“Our truck driver came back and he said, ‘I don’t think it’s going to be able to run next week,’ and then we kind of panicked a little bit,” she recounted.

The radiator on one of the trucks is busted. She says it’s not safe to drive around the city.

“We have a lot of deliveries coming up this week, about 70 a day, 75 five a day,” she said.

She was scrambling. Without both trucks operating, she started to worry about food not arriving in the hands of those who need it.

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“It’s very hard to think about that right now, because in the last weeks, we’ve been so swamped with all those calls,” she said.

With little time to spare, help arrived from around the corner. Not-for-profit grocery store Le Detour stepped in to lend them a truck.

“We know what it is, we work really hard and these type of problems come on top of all the rest so we were happy to give a hand when we can,” said Marie-Claude Rose, Le Detour co-coordinator.

A local delivery company will also offer some help.

“So we’re all good for tomorrow, but it is still very uncertain of what will happen for the rest of the week,” said Taillon. “We’re hoping that we might have a donation, we might do a come campaign just to get to the truck financed. It’s money we obviously don’t have in the middle of a pandemic.”

Taillon will be speaking with donors and community members in the coming days to try to come up with a solution. She can be reached at info@sharethewarmth.ca.