Carolyn’s Community expands efforts to support Montreal’s shelters

A grassroots initiative called Carolyn's Community is now helping more than 70 local shelters.

It’s called Carolyn’s Community, a grassroots initiative that continues to grow year after year, now helping more than 70 local shelters.

Her kids aren’t ready to talk about it, but Carolyn Bouchard-MacNeil is already planning for “back to school.” Not for her three, but for other people’s children.

Sorting through items, she explains: “These are new school bags. And then we have donations of school supplies that we’ll fill them with.”

School supplies, clothes, furniture—she takes in donations and delivers them to 72 frontline shelters like Shield of Athena or The Native Women’s Shelter.

For 22 years, Carolyn’s Community was run out of her house. Now, she has a donated storage room and is better able to support vulnerable people like single mothers.

She explains: “They don’t believe that, you know, a truckload of furniture is arriving to them this afternoon. They are sometimes skeptical until it arrives, and then they’re so grateful for the community to help them just get through their every day.”

Still a collection of volunteers, Carolyn’s Community is now a registered charity, which means they can supply tax receipts and work with bigger partners.

She says: “A lot of companies are looking to give back to the community. And a lot of the time when you reach out to organizations, they don’t necessarily have time to call you back. So people are beginning to know if they call me, then they can do special projects with the school. I’m on text with many different directors 24 hours a day!”

Bouchard-MacNeil prides herself on connecting businesses to shelters and getting donations to the people who need them most.

She’s also sharing her charity work knowledge through a new program for teens called “Connecting People Through the Power of Giving.” It’s a 50-hour course for high school students to get charity work experience and life skills.

“To help and teach students and teens at a very young age that it’s important to give back to their community,” says Bouchard-MacNeil.

Carolynscommunity.com is where to go for information on the course and on the effort to raise $22,000 to celebrate 22 years of giving.

“I’m hoping that now that we can issue tax receipts, that we’ll be able to expand our programs and help more Montrealers in need.”