NEWS & ANALYSIS

H.O.P.E. means helping out people everywhere!

From left to right Doreen Allebone, Janice Berry, Ted Pereira, Pat Clinton, Kelvin Berry. By P.A. Sévigny The Suburban Deep in the basement of LaSalle?s Jean de Brébeuf church, hundreds of food items neatly stacked and sorted among home-made wall-to-wall shelving units have as much to say about the spirit of Christmas as does every shopping centre Santa Clause and the spoon-man?s endless racket outside of the Ogilvy?s Christmas window. ?We?re hoping to hand out at least 75 Christmas baskets for families who need them,? said Project Hope manager Kelvin ?Kal? Berry. ?We?re also going to be handing out toys for the kids, at least 50 Gazette (Christmas Fund) checks and local IGA food vouchers for the single people who need them.? Apart from the kind support from the parish and its priest, Father John Walsh, Kelvin and Janice Berry keep the food bank open with nothing but the help of a few dedicated volunteers and a $5,700 donation from the local borough council. ?The Christmas program is important,? said Janice. ?It costs us up to $10,000 but it makes a big difference for a lot of people in this parish.? Both Kal and Janice believe the new recession is only beginning to take its toll among the lower levels of Montreal?s middle-class. With lay-offs and permanent job cuts becoming a regular feature of the city?s business environment, Berry said it?s easy to imagine what will happen if inflation becomes a fact of life and interest rates once begin to climb back into the double digit zone. As opposed to the working poor who use the inner city?s food banks, Berry said his food bank usually has to deal with the new poor. ?That?s when you have more than three weeks to go between the time you lost your job and the time you get your first unemployment check,? he said. ?That can take up to six weeks and by the time people come to see us, there?s nothing in the fridge and they?re desperate.? Like every other food bank executive across the city, Berry is dismayed to see how food banks have become an integral part of the city?s ever expanding safety net. ?At first, we were only busy during the final week of the month,? said Janice. ?When there were still a few days before the check came in, people came to see us because they had no money to buy food. Now we?re always busy because once the rent is due and bills get paid, there?s not much left and you?ve got a problem-especially when you have to feed the kids.? Due to the fact the tiny food bank still can?t afford a truck; it still depends upon members of the parish to do pickup and deliveries. As the owner-manager of the local IGA, parish philanthropist Todd Beck?s kindness and his constant generosity is quickly becoming a local legend in the West Island community. Between his generosity and the sweat equity invested by a host of volunteers, the food bank is still making a difference between faint glimmers of hope and the quiet despair when you?re hungry on Christmas day. On Friday, the 19th of December, Berry the food bank will be holding its annual Christmas party. All of Berry?s volunteers are going to get together to pack Christmas baskets and wrap presents for the children. ?It?s not your usual Christmas party,? said Kelvin. ?But then again, it?s not really work because we?re all having a lot of fun.? n

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