I had the honour of visiting The Depot Community Food Centre - formerly the NDG Food Depot…read moreyesterday and getting a better idea of all the incredible programs being developed and run through this powerful community hub, and then shared whole heartedly by this passionate organization with other food security organizations around Montreal and around the country. Currently located in a former restaurant, the space which they open to the public for community dinners and emergency food box pickup is incredibly welcoming. There are picnic tables outside, small tables and chairs, a welcoming front desk, and a kitchen buzzing with volunteers. Being here truly makes you want to spend more time here. Twice a week this incredible space offers a free community meal to anyone who shows up - literally anyone. They do not ask people to present proof of income or anything like that. The goal here is truly to build community and to break isolation and to forge links between all members of our local Montreal community. The meal that is served showcases recipes that can be made using the exact ingredients made available in the emergency food baskets, so folks come for a meal, pick up their baskets if they need one, and then can get help from a variety of other practitioners including social workers, legal aide, folks who can help with meal planning - these days they are even helping people register and get ready to vote! The best. The chef here helped develop the menu at Damas so volunteers are learning from a very gifted pro, and the community at every level is being treated with love and respect, and respect for good food. There is so much more going on here, including hundreds of kids getting afterschool snacks, hundreds of families growing food through community gardens managed by the depot, intergeneration meals, cultural cooking, good food markets, and just so much more. I'm excited that Yelp will be doing more to be involved with supporting this world-changing organization in the future, so Yelp Elites watch for that, and everyone go check them out and see if there are ways that make sense for you to get involved. Because this is the good stuff.

Located in Point Saint Charles Share the Warmth has been offering valuable service to communities…read morethroughout the south west of Montreal since 1989. Having moved to The Point in 2008 I've had the opportunity, both as a community member and as a board member, to see firsthand the positive impact that Share the Warmth's programs have on the community. Share the Warmth offers a variety of programs, with a particular emphasis on youth, that include music, tutoring, food security and job training. As a small community organization located in the heart of the community that they serve Share the Warmth is ideally situated to respond to the evolving needs of the community. For example during the covid-19 pandemic Share the Warmth adapted it's food bank ensuring a continuity of service while prioritizing a safe environment for members, employees and volunteers while responding to a 50% increase in families requesting emergency food assistance. Share the Warmth is a top notch organization delivering high quality program to Montreal children and families in need of support in the areas of education, food security and job training. I encourage you to learn more about this great organization by visiting their website and seeing how you can get involved.

Having met members of the board and other volunteers and seen the incredible scale of the work that…read moregoes on here I am a whole-hearted fan. Serving free lunch programs to kids at 20 different schools, offering free tutoring and music programs and all kinds of other resources to help kids stay in school in the face of an incredibly high drop out rate makes these folks local heroes and deserving of all our love and support. Get involved if you can! They also run a food bank and thrift shop that are always happy to receive donations and to make new friends and allies!

Mission Nouvelle Generation (MNG) is an organism that aims to fight poverty. It is primarily a food…read morebank, but also offers certain services like garage/bike/auto repairs and has its own thrift store where you can buy a mix of new and used goods (clothing, toys, furniture, toiletries..). My family has been volunteering here for the past few months. If you, or someone you know on the South Shore is struggling to obtain basic necessities like food, then MNG is a valuable asset. For a very modest price of $10 or $15, you can get an entire shopping cart full of groceries. Lots of healthy options: fruits, vegetables, dairy, breads, canned goods, even deserts and meats. Families don't walk away with just a box of goods, it is literally a whole shopping cart overflowing with food, they are very generous. They even host special donation drives for back-to-school events (in August, you could get very cheap school supplies, books, backpacks, etc), and there should be a special event around Christmas too. A lot of donations come from supermarkets and big chains (Costco) all over the city. Daily donations pour in, pallets and truck loads of food that is still perfectly edible. Sometimes food and items are donated just because their packaging is dented, or missing a label. Food that is not fit for human consumption is shipped off as animal feed. If you do not need the services of a food bank, but want to donate your time, money, or any material good that could be useful for families, I strongly recommend MNG. The place is run by both volunteers and employees- it is such an eye opener when you see all the things supermarkets no longer want on their shelves, and how much it can benefit those in need. The people working here are passionate and those who benefit from the services are so grateful. What a great place! This is my best discovery of 2020.

Every time I went somebody tried to sign me for welfare, even though I am/was an American, people…read morewith the staff here and other places too kept telling me to try either way. Oh and a better idea of a friendly social family dinner than I ever witnessed before, ample options so much so you might question why (and how, as an American the idea is not possible of course) a shelter gives the best homemade food. Staff eats the same food. Staff eats with you during interview. Staff does not evangelize religion in code. Staff speaks French and English and Franglish er Franglais. I politely said I did not want to try for welfare and health care (provable I did not want to go that far, except for dishwashing and Tapaj's paid work day jobs, free money felt too much to ask, I ultimately mostly just appreciated the exceptional standard of free Social support) even though I already got Temporary Refugee status with a Free Insurance Doctor's Visit (fact-checkable I actually tried and got official papers) by just saying my name just from being referred by a shelter before.

This is a safe space! Head and Hands is the best! Head and Hands has been an invaluable resource to…read moreour community for decades. They offer social work services, healthcare, mental health and other medical services, legal services, and much much more. All of their services are free of charge and are aimed towards people who are undocumented, racialised, marginalised and disenfranchised as well as persons with limited finances and persons who are unhoused. This is a safe space for Black people, Indigenous people, and people from all ethnocultural backgrounds and identities in our community. This is a safe space for (Trans) women. This is a safe space for refugees, This is a safe space for people who are undocumented or people with precarious immigration status. You will not be asked to show proof of citizenship or residency. This is a safe space for people living with disabilities. Head and Hands is fully accessible. This is a safe space for Trans people; including Trans youth, and people from the 2SLGBTQI community as well as men who have sex with men. This is a safe space for sex workers. You can get free condoms, birth control, plan B (an effective emergency contraceptive also known as the morning after pill) as well as pregnancy tests and STI testing. This is a safe space for people who use (intravenous) drugs. You can get a drug testing kit, they've also got naloxone kits, and a safe injection site. You may also procure drug rehabilitation services here. Head and Hands is amazing because of the people who work here. These are the true heroes of our society.

From the owner: Since 1970, Head & Hands has been committed to the physical and mental health of our community's…read moreyouth. Today, we offer a number of medical, social, and legal services including: Information and referrals Medical clinics and special HIV testing clinics The Sense Project sex education program Legal assistance, accompaniment, and lawyer consultations Social counseling with couples, families, and individuals The young parents program The Jeunesse 2000 youth drop-in centre Tutoring Our emergency food pantry Workshops on legal rights, safer drug use, babysitting and other social topics such as self-esteem, body-image, and boundaries Our approach is harm-reductive, holistic, and non-judgmental.

11 books for $30.... Need I say more? The books we got were in quite good condition for being used…read moreand with a price tag of roughly $3 per book, we have no complaints. They offer a large variety of genres in both English and French. A book I was two seconds away from ordering on Amazon for $25 was $4... needless to say, we left very happy. So many Stephen King, John Grisham, Dean Koontz books... cookbooks, history books.... It really felt like they had everything and that was just for 2-3 aisles out of an entire store full of great items. I would definitely go back to look at the clothing and other items at another point in time but for the books alone, I was very impressed by the value.