Filling schoolbags and fridges at the same time

Montreal, August 27, 2024 – The back-to-school season is an expensive time for families, one that places huge financial pressure on those struggling to make ends meet. Because choosing between providing necessary supplies for school and putting meals on the table is an impossible task, requests for food assistance are especially high this time of year. To better support Food Banks of Quebec (FBQ), which is barely able to keep up with current higher demand, the SAQ will extend its fall fundraising campaign to an exceptional 11 days. From August 29 to September 8, for every Quebec product purchased at the SAQ, a meal will be donated to the FBQ. In addition, customers who wish to make a personal donation will be welcome to do so at checkout.

Constantly changing demand

Requests for food assistance have been growing steadily for several years. Recent data paint an ever more distressing picture in which the effects of the higher cost of living continue to be felt. For example, the recent rise in requests for food assistance can be partially explained by moving season, which involves many expenses and significantly higher rent for a number of households. The season also sees new people signing up for FBQ services while they look for resources in their new city or neighbourhood.

Drinking well comes after getting enough to eat

It was in 2011, when the FBQ network sounded the alarm about the crying lack of resources, that the SAQ became aware of the scale of the needs to be met and decided to make food assistance its main corporate cause. Due to the generosity of its customers and involvement of its employees, more than $18 million has been raised for the FBQ in the years since, including more than $2.6 million last year, enabling the organization to assist large numbers of families across Quebec.

In addition, the SAQ has partnered with the Tablée des chefs for 15 years now and more recently became involved in Mercier–Hochelaga-Maisonneuve borough in eastern Montreal, where its head office is located, by collaborating with the Cuisine collective Hochelaga Maisonneuve (CCHM). Working with this organization deeply rooted in the community, we have helped create a kitchen garden and a large greenhouse in operation more than 10 months a year. All the produce from the garden and greenhouse goes toward feeding people in the borough.

To learn more about these initiatives, listen to the following episodes of our Sous le bouchon podcast (in French only): CCHM: Cultivating community,  Food Banks of Quebec and Heartfelt partnerships.

About Food Banks of Quebec
The Food Banks of Quebec (FBQ) network is present throughout Quebec with its 32 regional members, many of which operate under the Moisson banner. They provide nutritious foodstuffs to 1,300 community organizations that deliver food assistance to more than 670,000 persons a month. Since 1988, the FBQ has made it possible for resources, expertise and information to be pooled in order to fight food insecurity and alleviate hunger among vulnerable populations. https://banquesalimentaires.org/en/