Stories that inspire
The Centre communautaire Bon Courage at Place Benoît
The Centre communautaire Bon Courage (CCBC) is a living environment. It aims to welcome, accompany and support residents from the Hodge-Carré Benoît sector in the Saint-Laurent borough and surrounding areas. Working with its users, it initiates projects that aim to enhance their development on a personal, social and community level.
It offers several programs, for young people, families and seniors. The CCBC is active on the front lines, working to meet the needs of individuals in difficulty. It also works to improve living conditions in the community in a sustainable way, and make neighbourhood life more dynamic.
In that spirit, it has has developed a food security program. It helps beneficiaries maintain a balanced diet, but also strengthens the food security of low-income individuals. It also breaks down their isolation. Participants can thus take advantage of balanced and varied food choices in the products distributed to them, meals shared in a community setting and collective kitchens. They also benefit from a welcoming environment that fosters human contact.
A food service that strengthens the community
Every Thursday, the Center delivers food baskets to residents of the Hodge-Carré Benoit sector and adjacent neighbourhoods. Each week, around 150 baskets are delivered to the families that have signed up for the service, which totals about 750 people. Over the span of a year, this means nearly 200,000 kilos of food, amounting to a value of more than one million dollars.
The baskets include a variety of food products, most of which are supplied by Moisson Montréal. Local partners like Vertcité, Les Serres du Dos Blanc and others assist in providing organic food for recipients.
The Center also provides a service that delivers food to seniors and individuals with limited mobility, as well as emergency food assistance to those who need it.
With the recent arrival of many asylum seekers, over 50 new families have also registered with the CCBC lately. Close to 40 others are on the waiting list. All told, over 450 more people are using its food bank services in the area. This obviously puts more pressure on the organization’s resources.
As it is searching for a larger and more adequate space to carry out its mission of supporting Saint-Laurent’s families, the Centre communautaire Bon Courage warmly thanks all the partners mentioned above, as well as its funders and the community at large for their generosity.