The Côte-des-Neiges Black Community Association (CDNBCA) is making changes to better fight food insecurity. One major change includes an upgrade to their kitchen. From old appliances to stainless steel, clients, including Carol Dowe, agree that renovation was long overdue. “I love the kitchen. I love what they have done with it,” Dowe said. “Lots of people need help, not just me.” Dowe has been visiting the CDNBCA food bank since before the pandemic. At 65, she says it’s one of the few resources that allows her to make ends meet. “You have to buy food. You have to take care of yourself. And just the rent going up and the landlord just increasing and increasing. And this is something the government should take care of,” she said. According to the association’s partner non-profit Moisson Montréal, there are roughly one million requests for food assistance in the city each month. Where provincial programs may fall short, the CDNBCA food bank helps to fill in the gaps. Every Wednesday at 1 p.m., clients come to the Nelson Mandela Park Pavilion to pick up a $5 basket of produce. As the CDNBCA’s executive chair, Ayanna Alleyne says a new kitchen was crucial. “We weren’t really able to get milk or meat, poultry because we didn’t have the right refrigeration. So now we have that here. So that will allow us to have a different intake of food, so possibly more food baskets - but also allow us to store more food,” Alleyne explained. She hopes this will meet the demand of roughly 550 visitors per week and 375 families per year. And the group has more up its sleeves - from new cooking workshops and youth programs, to food literacy and wellness initiatives. They say it’s all aimed at keeping their services “culturally relevant.” “With the diaspora, people lose a little bit of the connection of where they’re from and food always brings people together,” Alleyne said. Dowe added, “it’s good because it helps a lot of people in the community.”
