Greater Montreal teams up to fight hunger among babies and young children throughout April
Élise Guilbault, Olivier Niquet and Geneviève Everell join forces to benefit
the 6th Edition of The Great Food Drive for Children
MONTREAL, April 1, 2017 /CNW Telbec/ - This morning, Moisson Montreal and Moisson Rive-Sud, which seeks each month to help nearly 20,000 children aged five and under across the Greater Montreal area, kicked off The Great Food Drive for Children, presented by Provigo and Maxi. The target goal of $200,000 will help address the needs of thousands of families affected by poverty and who have difficulty meeting their children's basic food needs.
Through April 30, Olivier Niquet, the radio co-host of La soirée est (encore) jeune, as well as Geneviève Everell, the Sushi à la maison chef, will join with Moisson Montréal official spokesperson Élise Guilbault in inviting everyone to give generously and to mobilize themselves to allow these children to get a good start in life.
''The Great Food Drive for Children was created to address a significant gap between the baby products donations received and the growing phenomenon of child poverty. It's a fact, young children are agrowing increasing segment of users of our organizations, while only 1% of the donations we receive, such as infant formula, cereals or diapers, are meant for them," explains the Moisson Montréal Executive Director, Richard D. Daneau.
Moisson Rive-Sud Executive Director, Dany Hétu, also highlights the importance to help out those vulnerable – our children.
''For expecting or new parents in a precarious financial situation, eating can be a source of enormous anxiety. A sufficient and healthy diet is paramount for children's development. The Great Food Drive for Children allows us to collaborate with the organizations we serve to help families in a comforting, reliable and stable way, in those uncertain moments," says Hétu.
The money raised will be used to offer foodstuffs to community organizations that bring food assistance to future mothers and to families with young children in need. Once again this year, Moisson Montreal and Moisson Rive-Sud will take considerable measures through several activities to raise awareness among the population about the adverse consequences of poor nutrition on the health and well-being of young children across Montreal.
What to give?
- Cash donations
- Food donations and children's products (infant formula, fortified canned infant formula, baby food, instant cereals, diapers, wipes or any other non-perishable goods)
How to give?
- Online: greatfooddrive.com
- By SMS: text BEBES to 20222 to make a $10 donation and feed 30 children for a week
- In person: In all participating Provigo and Maxi stores on the Island of Montreal until April 13, 2017
- By telephone: 514-344-4494 ext. 222
Campaign calendar
- April 1: Campaign launch
- April 8: Press conference during Children's Day at the Montréal Fine Arts Museum
- April 17-22: Online auction titled A Chef In Your Home in collaboration with Étienne Huot, Antonio Park, Marie-Fleur St-Pierre, Ian Perreault and Kimberly Lallouz in which participants bidders compete to win a meal for 10 people prepared by the chef of their choice. The grand prize winner of the auction will also have the pleasure of welcoming into their home none other than beloved actors Marc Labrèche and Élise Guilbault to serve their meal.
About the Great Food Drive for Children
Created in 2012, the Great Food Drive for Children is an annual campaign established by Moisson Montréal and Moisson Rive-Sud. The primary objective of the Great Food Drive for Children is to raise cash donations for toddlers, in order to help feed 20,000 children under the age of five who are living in poverty in the Montreal region.
About the two Moisson
A non-profit organization founded in 1984, Moisson Montréal is the largest food bank in Canada. Through its collection, sorting, and distribution centre for emergency food assistance, the organization allocates nearly 1,000 tons of food per month to 254 accredited community organizations on the Island of Montreal. In turn, these organizations provide food assistance to 137,000 people, including nearly 45,000 children. Moisson Montréal receives funding and supplies mainly through donations. Its operations require the collaboration of nearly 9,000 volunteers each year and result in the redistribution of about 14 million kilos of food, representing a total value of approximately $81 million. Moisson Montréal has won three awards for its Food Recovery Program in Supermarkets: the 2016 Sustainable Development Award from Mercuriades, the 2015 Corporate Citizenship Award from Novae (Supply Category), and the 2015 Élixir - Coup de Coeur Prize from PMI-Montréal. For more information, visit www.moissonmontreal.org.
Moisson Rive-Sud (MRS) fuels life by annually distributing more than 4.3M kilograms of foodstuffs, representing more than $20M in market value. This corresponds to more than 81,000 requests per month, including more than 12,000 families and 33,000 children. In order to accomplish our mission, they collaborate with 84 accredited organizations, more than 400 precious volunteers and 156 generous agribusiness suppliers. MRS statistics speak for themselves. MRS is the only accredited food bank in the Montérégie region and is always seeking to improve its services for the organizations helping its needy population. The mission of Moisson Rive-Sud is to offer foodstuffs to accredited organizations and support the development of sustainable solutions in order to ensure food security for the population of the Montérégie region. For additional information, visit: http://moissonrivesud.org. We also invite you to like our Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/moissonrivesud.
SOURCE MOISSON MONTREAL

For further information: To book an interview with the campaign spokespersons: Émilie Lafond, Projet Manager, SYRUS, 514-935-2777, ext. 212, [email protected]; For additional information on the campaign and its activities: Jessica Hallé, Campaign and Sponsorship Manager, Moisson Montréal, 514 344-4494, ext. 238, [email protected]
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