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12/20/2017 COMMUNITY KITCHEN - More than MealsCommunity Kitchen is an outreach of Rivers' Edge Community Church.
Since 2009, the Community Kitchen has provided meals, community and comfort as an outreach to the less fortunate in NdG. With servings twice a week at dinner time, of salad - soup - and main course, with dessert, many guests come to spend time with friends, reconnect, and recharge in the company of an accepting and welcoming group of volunteers. When a mechanical failure resulted in a pipe flooding the facilities, a 1-800 helpline and community Facebook page was immediately setup to communicate with the population of guests who were served by the Community Kitchen. This has allowed clients to remain in contact, and to receive updates on a regular basis, despite having very little interaction with the hosting church during renovations and refit. Many clients have little material means, and can only access a toll free number from public payphones. This essential lifeline makes them feel connected to each other and the outreach ministry while the facilities are being repaired.   Successful completion of project space - Cycle Alimenterre (2016-06) One of the challenges of long winters, in Montreal, is access to fresh produce.
The founders of CYCLE ALIMENTERRE have been working on creating and improving access to fresh local, and affordable produce that reduces our carbon footprint, creates local opportunities for employment, and retains capital into our local economy. It is the business building aspect of fresh food production that garnered interest from Parallel Development. Moving CYCLE ALIMENTERRE's production operations indoors for 6 months of the year proved to be quite challenging - faced with the loss of commercial space, or unreasonable expenses for a promising startup. Enter our business experience paired with Social Innovation. By partnering with a local retailer, CYCLE ALIMENTERRE was able to develop local business distribution, as well as create a working environment within literally steps of their customers. How? Creative financing was the foundation for this initiative. A leasehold improvement, in lieu of rent, contract for this startup business allowed for the reasonable installation of required equipment (lights, ventilation, washing and packaging station) in an otherwise unused section of commercial space. The equitable exchange was essentially the extension of creating a working retail space (office, working, sink and electrical inputs) for the pro-bono exchange of commercial rents. This allowed the group to focus on improvements and market development - instead of worrying about commercial rent expenses at a critical point of startup. By sharing the invested development of viable commercial space, and filling it with a productive client, both sides benefit from gaining a market base, and a solid market supplier. As of November 2016, CYCLE ALIMENTERRE was incorporated as a Workers CoOperative under the guidelines of the province of Quebec. You may contact them as to where their fresh greens are available. |
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