JOSHUA ALLAN
The 1510 West
Throughout the summer, a group of youths in Baie d’Urfé will be collecting donations of non-perishable goods and hygiene products as part of an effort to help the West Island Mission, a non-profit food bank that serves the region.
The initiative offers an opportunity to give the youth, ages 10 to 18 who are part of the municipality’s junior town council, a group who take an active role in their town’s democratic life by discussing local issues, “a better understanding about food insecurity in the West Island, because they’ve been sheltered from that,” said Baie d’Urfé councillor Wanda Lowensteyn.
While residents of Baie d’Urfé may not face the same levels of food insecurity as in other communities, Lowensteyn explained that this initiative will get “our junior council involved in understanding that they have a responsibility to help those who are less fortunate than they are, because they are very fortunate.”
“When you put these bins at various clubs, you hope that people who can afford to be members at these clubs should certainly be able to afford to help out with some donations,” Lowensteyn said.
Donation bins are set up at the town’s community pool, the tennis club and the yacht club. Donors may drop off the items, which are then brought to the West Island Mission in Dollard des Ormeaux.
This new initiative is part of the West Island Mission’s annual summer campaign, titled “Hunger doesn’t take a vacation.”
“I think that’s great and it’s a new audience for us in the sense that having a youth council involved just gives them a little bit more understanding and awareness of who’s vulnerable in the community and what the community needs are,” said Suzanne Scarrow, the Mission’s executive director.
According to Scarrow, the summer tends to be the slow season for food donations. It is also the time that charities and food banks need them the most.
“A lot of our families are living in areas where schools provide snack programs and potentially even lunch programs,” she explained in an interview. “In the summer, when they (the children) are off school, the parents are responsible for providing those snacks and lunch, so it’s an added expense for our families.”
The West Island Mission is asking for residents to consider donating the following five specific foods: Canned meats, peanut butter, rice, granola bars and canned tomatoes. “It’s really the basic necessities that we run out of very quickly.”
What’s more, she added that donations do not need to be limited to food products. “We’re always short on diapers and feminine hygiene (products),” she said.