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.

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.

This is not a "business" but rather a nonprofit organization which helps victims of domestic…read moreviolence, as well as support services for teen dating violence and abuse prevention. They have support groups, drop in services as well as court accompaniment. I've helped out a couple times and one my mentors works there. They also helped my family countless of times! They are among the nicest people you will ever meet! I strongly recommend anyone who needs advice or help to contact them ASAP!

So I'm walking down Wellington Avenue and I see this line up stretching down the block and around…read morethe corner and it wasn't a supermarket or restaurant take-out so I asked someone in line. It turns out Verdun has a community food bank service that helps those on limited income. When I looked at the folks in line everyone had many shopping bags in the crooks of their arms as well as their two-wheeled shopping caddy's in tow. People forget that before gentrification hit certain "hot" neighbourhoods like Verdun, it was often an economically disadvantaged area where many families, old pensioners, veterans, and the underemployed or unemployed often struggled to make ends meet, put food on the table and keep body and soul together and hence why rents were cheap and services were meagre. Gentrification may give Verdun a veneer of coolness and overpriced real estate now, but the struggling are still here in plain sight. I am lucky enough to not need the service but I came in to check it out and see how it worked. Basically, every Monday between 4-6pm at 5140 Wellington (where the old karate school was) between Desmarchais and 6th Avenue, there is a community food bank where $5 gets you a weeks work of groceries. In a giant plastic box which an army of volunteers are busy getting ready for each patron. A box is presented to you and you put your goods in your bags or caddy. Clearly, what you get will vary wildly from week to week since these are all based on donations and the work of volunteers but I saw fresh baby bok choi, tomatoes, lemons, strawberries, oranges, asparagus, red peppers, mushrooms, Italian parsley, veggie chips, a loaf of grain bread, boxed almond milk, canned soups, granola bars, pastas. The fruits and veggies actually looked in decent shape and not about to go bad at all.If you bring your own freezer pack, you get frozen meat, I saw minced veal and veal sausages. The volunteers were all young, fast and super fit. From what I understand they're always looking for help and they always need donations. With covid, many people have taken an economic hit so I'm actually glad to see services like this in my neighbourhood and the sense of community it fosters. People might struggle but at least there are decent services out there doing good work.

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!

I had to find a day camp for my daughter for the week and it was difficult as it was very last…read moreminute so I called them asking if they had room and they said they would squeeze her in. I was thankful because I work full time and she needed to be taken care of somewhere so I followed their instructions and filled out the registration to e-mail but in the registration, it said that if someone has special needs (autism), that they absolutely need a shadow. My daughter is very high functioning and did not have a shadow for the previous 7 weeks at another day camp but I called them back, told them that she did not have a shadow and that she could not attend their camp. The person on the phone insisted that it was okay and that she could come anyhow. In the registration application, I indicated that she does wander and just to keep an eye on her. Saint-Raymond's daycamp did not have a problem with her and just kept an eye on her. They took the registration and were like great, come in Monday etc. Monday, her father picks her up and the daycamp kid complains that she is wandering. Yes, this was mentioned on the phone before applying and on the application. Her father said that he would speak to her and they go home. Tuesday, we get a call at around noon saying that she can no longer stay at the camp because she is wandering around, IN THE GYM. When I told them that it was them that insisted that she go regardless, she apologized but it put me in a bad predicament. When I picked her up, Anna was really happy to see me, squealed and came running to me but I look at the other girl daycamp educator kid and she is cringing, holding her ears cause Anna squealed too loud. Then the guy tells me that I probably spoke to someone different on the phone and they gave conflicting information. What the hell? My daughter is telling me that this is her new day camp and that she likes it, but I had to drag her out. It was terrible. They did not even give her a chance. All they had to do was keep an eye on her. They had no patience for her and I was going to find another day camp and they INSISTED that she did not need a shadow even though the application clearly states that every kid with special needs has to have a shadow. That was complete misrepresentation, it put me in a terrible position and no one even wanted to look me in the eyes. They gave me my cheque back and ignored me. Except the blonde teenage guy and the girl teenager who cringed when Anna squealed my name and came running to me but those were 2 second conversations and the girl just told me where here bag was. Worst place ever.

This is a very welcoming place. My daughter enjoyed the summer camp very much. They brought her all…read morearound the city on trips all summer. The staff members were kind and always kept her happy. Very good camp!

I had some furniture picked up last week by this organization - my first time using them. Good…read morecommunication, they respond promptly to emails and pickup was scheduled shortly after my request. Staff (two young men) were polite, quick and super careful not to brush against walls when handling my furniture. I just wish they would give either a more precise time of arrival (confirmation email said pickup would occur "between 9:30 am and 3:30 pm") OR call more in advance of their arrival - pickup staff called me when they were already at my place, which was inconvenient since I was at work, lol - but they agreed to go make another pickup and return, giving me time to go back home and meet them. Overall great experience! Highly recommend.

I've been a member of the OIIQ since 2011. Overall I'm a pretty satisfied member…read more I used to feel that we pay too much for our licenses. But in speaking with other nurses in other privinces who may pay less yearly, they don't seem to have the reduced pricing we pay for training (also in other provinces nurses are expected to pay for their own trainings whereas here in Québec it's our employers who foot that bill). Also, in speaking with my interdisciplinary colleagues, we also get the best bang for our buck in that respect too. My social work and psychoeducator colleagues pay way more than us nurses annually for their permits and don't have any perks included. The quality of the trainings offered by the OIIQ are impressive. I have only taken 2 so far (ADD/ADHD and Into to MI), but both times I left with a renewed hope for my profession and a genuine sense of having improved my practice (versus having wasted 7hours of my life...which is often the case with internal trainings, I find). I do highly appreciate the quarterly magazine subscription included with our membership too, though lately I've been wishing they would stop with the actual magazine and just send us a link via email for an electronic version. They're really beautiful and super useful, but I don't need a hardcopy I need a permanent resource I can click when needed. They just end up in recycling eventually because they're my first targets when I get a decluttering itch ... Every little gesture helps save the planet right? Go electronic! The reason for the minus 1 star is while I do applaud the OIIQ for being pro-Québec to the umpteenth degree, the 100% refusal to have any OIIQ-related information whatsoever (talking ZERO) available to translate to english is downright borderline hostile. Which to me, sends a pretty mixed message. It makes it very difficult for nurses from the states, for example, or the rest of Canada etc.. to come practice in Québec. It personally doesn't affect me in the slightest (totally proficient in french), but I feel we all lose out when we put up walls instead of bridges. (And I'm not saying translate everything even, but at least the part about how to renew your license/ transfer your license to Québec (ummm nursing shortage much?! Helloooooo..) and having the magazine available as an option in english too would be handy). So yes, overall satisfied member, but really would appreciate a bit of leniency with the language laws. Keep it up with fantastic quality trainings! (which by the way are available to non-members too at an increased price (~30$ more))