This text is part of the special section Philanthropy
A million Quebecers suffer from food insecurity, revealed a report by the Quebec Observatory of Inequalities published at the end of 2022. Organizations working in the field did not, however, need a scientific study to find out: they see firsthand the combined effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, the housing crisis and food inflation on households.
One example among many others: at the Rock-Guertin Foundation in Sherbrooke, which distributes food baskets three times a year to families in need, demand has jumped 35% since last year. Behind this figure hides an alarming reality: “Registrations for the spring baskets were open until March 31”, explains the general manager of the foundation, Solange Rodrigue. “In the weeks following that date, my voicemail was constantly full of calls from people in emergency situations hoping that we would still have a basket for them. »
To help those most in need, various organizations are demonstrating unparalleled creativity.
eat fresh
After more than a decade of growth, Les Fermes Lufa wanted to help fight food insecurity. Specializing in urban agriculture and the distribution of organic and local food, the Montreal company was aware of having on hand products rarely available in food banks.
By visiting organizations like Moisson Montreal, something clicked: what if its technological tools were put to good use? A few lines of code later, the ordering platform was adapted to allow families in need to do their grocery shopping online and receive their vegetables at home, like the company’s customers.
Thus, in December 2020, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the company launched a direct donation program with its customers. The latter are invited to contribute by adding a few dollars to their invoice with each order or by giving up their annual discounts. The success was immediate: the first year, the funds thus raised were used to provide baskets of fresh vegetables to a few dozen families. Today, more than 550 people in Montreal benefit from the program.
“We are thus solving a problem of dignity,” underlines Yourianne Plante, director of communications for Lufa Farms. Above all, the tool saves precious time for these families, whose parents have to juggle busy schedules. “No more taking the bus to get to the food bank and waiting in line to receive food that you didn’t choose and that isn’t always super fresh. »
Relieve at the right time
Just like the Lufa Farms Foundation, which collaborates with Montreal organizations to select the households that will benefit from its vegetable baskets, the Rock-Guertin Foundation also joins forces with local stakeholders to distribute food to the four corners of the city of Sherbrooke.
The Foundation thus fills the stomachs of school-age children in about ten schools in the city and collaborates with about thirty organizations in the region. “We work with those who are already there, who do it well”, summarizes Solange Rodrigue.
All this thanks to entirely private funding. “We said to ourselves that after COVID-19, which was difficult for business people, donations were going to decrease, explains the director general. But we don’t feel it at all. She attributes this success to the reputation of the organization, which has been around for 40 years.
In addition to its daily activities, the Foundation organizes the distribution of baskets on an ad hoc basis at key times of the year: back to school, the holiday season and in the spring, around the Easter break. “We want to allow people to breathe, to give them a little sweetness. »
Despite the meteoric rise in needs, the Executive Director notes the generosity of those who benefit from her services. “A lady who had asked for a spring basket called me to tell me that she had just found a job and that she no longer needed it,” she says, still blown away to see that even the poorest people “spend the puck “.
Proof that in a crisis situation, human beings reveal their greatest capacities for mutual aid.
This special content was produced by the Special Publications team of the Duty, relating to marketing. The drafting of Duty did not take part.