CBC Sing-In charity drive volunteers shake cans for NDG Food Depot

The CBC Montreal Sing-In charity drive brought out more than 100 volunteers, shaking cans and inviting Montrealers to donate.

Joining CBC staff at the collection sites were volunteers from the Do Crew, Bank of Montreal, the NDG Food Depot and the phys.ed staff at Champlain College – who decided to help out instead of hold a Christmas party this year. 

• CLICK HERE TO DONATE
• CBC's Christmas Sing-In raises more than $44K for the NDG Food Depot
• More Quebecers turned to food banks in 2015 compared to last year

Once again this year, all proceeds from the CBC Sing-In charity drive go to the NDG Food Depot – a community-based, non-profit organization that works with other community partners to address issues of food security in the west-end neighbourhood. 

Its programs include: food and cooking skills, emergency food baskets, community gardens and volunteer-run meals.  

Meet some of the volunteers who shook cans for a good cause this year:

Paul Andrew Fournier

Paul was born in Montreal but lives in Timmins, Ont., where he's a metallurgical engineer at a mine. He reads CBC Montreal on the web to keep up with news from home. That's how he found out about the fundraiser.

So he planned his vacation home to Montreal around it.

He says he would love to volunteer with the CBC again the next time he's in Montreal.

Jill Morton

Jill, a garden designer who lives in NDG, has volunteered with the CBC Do Crew since January 2014. This is her fifth time volunteering with the CBC, she said.

She said this year is a breeze compared to last year's charity drive, when the weather was so much colder.

Jill also volunteers for the NDG Food Depot at the market Marché Bonne Bouffe every Friday.

Diana Glennie
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It's Diana's first time volunteering with the CBC.

The physics teacher at Dawson College read about the charity drive on the CBC website last week, and she plans to volunteer for the Do Crew in the future.

Diana moved to Montreal from Hamilton, Ont. earlier this year with her husband, a neuroscientist at the Douglas Mental Health University Institute.

Michael Sanders

Michael, from Westmount, heard about the NDG Food Depot two years ago, then he paid a visit with a friend. He was impressed by what he saw.

"The depot is extremely important. Who else is going to do it? People need fruit and vegetables. They need healthy food," he said.

He volunteered by shaking a donation can at the Monkland Street Provigo for two hours in the morning.

What's his tip for getting donations? He says to make eye contact. 

"Once you make eye contact, people feel they have to come back to you," he said.

"Make a little connection, some conversation. It all helps!"

Champlain College teachers

Dana Rittmaster, Marc Dagenais and Erin Goldstein teach physical education at Champlain College in Saint-Lambert. The teachers were planning to have a work party, but instead they spent the day volunteering for the charity drive.

"We were looking for a volunteer opportunity, something more meaningful for our work party," Dana said

Catherine Richards

Catherine Richards heard about the charity drive from her local group, The Westhill Grandmothers, which supports the Stephen Lewis Foundation raising funds for grandmothers in Africa.
It's her first time volunteering on the CBC Do Crew.

Cory Horowitz
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​Cory has been a regular volunteer at the NDG Food Depot since 2014, when she heard about it through another CBC fundraiser.

"I kind of figured I'd spend the day here today," the NDG resident said. "The Food Depot is a wonderful organization. There's lots of respect."
 

Other volunteers in action