Westmount's needy not forgotten this Christmas

As far back as anyone can remember, Westmount's firefighters and public security officers have been collecting food donations during the period leading up to Christmas, sorting them into individual baskets and distributing them to those most in need.

Despite Westmount's well-earned reputation as one of Canada's wealthiest communities, a small percentage of its population does in fact live in poverty. There are enough underprivileged locally that the City has long been providing low-income housing to meet their needs.

This week, many of the food baskets were being delivered to addresses at the public housing development. Up to 11 families, screened first, are benefiting from the efforts. Since mid-November, Protective Service personnel have been taking in the donations from bins placed at the front entrances of Westmount's municipal buildings.

On Monday, in the aftermath of the weekend snowstorm, PSO Jennifer Chabot and PSO Melanie Lafleur were struggling through congested streets to make the last four of their deliveries.

According to Chabot, who is the public security force's community relations officer, the drive this year was so successful that recipient families will be receiving baskets significantly larger than in past years.

"It was a huge success," she said, adding that whatever is left over will be donated to Westmount Park School, which is also in the midst of a food drive. "We're using up as much as we possibly can and the rest we're going to donate to them."

"There are some very needy people," she added, noting that earlier in the day they had made a delivery to a single mother who has two small children. The elderly are also frequent recipients.

"Depending on the number of people, they could have anywhere from two to five boxes each."

In addition to the donated food, money collected during the annual fall campaign was converted into food vouchers good at the local Metro supermarket. Besides the canned items, the recipients will be receiving turkeys or hams, depending on their preference.