day at the depot: photo edition

So here is the (not so) long awaited photo edition. Unfortunately Vineeth and Bonnie were not present today for my "Surprise, I'm taking a photo of you!" routine, but they will both make an appearance soon. Until then, you can imagine them as you would people with no Facebook profile picture, a shadowy blue outline with a question mark on his and her face.


The entrance to the Depot.


Wendy, the Volunteer Coordinator and surrogate grandmother to more than a few of the clients and volunteers.


Fiona, the Executive Director. Definitely one of the most laid back yet hardworking people I have ever met.


Colin, a regular volunteer at the Depot and jack of all trades. His resume is quite possibly 5 pages long.


Max (full name: Maximo). I've only been working here for about a month, but he gets Most Adorable and Endearing Volunteer Award. His aging Italian mother calls the Depot often while he is volunteering, to tell him that he needs to fix the television or get married (well, I don't know about the second one, but that's what I imagine she is saying to him). Of course they converse in Italian, to my great amusement.


A terribly blurry picture of the distribution area.


Storage room.


My desk. It looks really messy and terribly disorganized, but there is an order to the madness. And for what it's worth, I don't know who put the roll of paper towels there. It is definitely not my doing.


This is Christy, who does reception during service hours, which includes giving referrals to people who are not within the Depot service area (which is determined by residential postal code), orienting first time clients, and generally keeping order within the waiting area. She also reads palms- apparently, my love life and finances will be very good. I guess I can stop worrying about ending up on St.Catherine with a cardboard sign that reads: "McGill graduate: will write/edit political science papers for food."


Alex, a volunteer, is doing intake here. Basically a client goes in, gives his/her file number, shows ID, and states his/her preferences. It sounds simple enough, but I was a disaster the first time. I am now much better at intake.


Wendy and Romney discussing important distribution matters....or the season finale of Gossip Girl. It really is discussion worthy.


Volunteers hard at work.


Putting together the food baskets.


The basic "menu" for each food basket, according to the number of people.


Wendy loves to sit with the clients, especially the kids during service hours.


Clement Yung, a regular client at the Depot. His house burned down about three years ago, and with it 40 000 books. A bunch of Concordia students made a short documentary about him and his bibliomania, and captured his apartment in all its cramped glory before it burned down. He is one of the most colorful characters I have met so far in Montreal, by far. A delightful eccentric.

Et voila. Until next time, friends and fellow idlers.

first three weeks at the ndg food depot

So it's already been three weeks since I began working at the NDG Food Depot as Project Outreach Coordinator. I can't believe that it's already nearing the end of June!

The first week was orientation, and consisted of mainly getting to know how the Depot operates on a day-to-day basis. My schedule that week went something like the following:

Monday: began work at noon, and met with the staff. I did some sorting of food donations with Romney, a fellow summer student intern (official title: Food Distribution Assistant). We looked at expiration dates, sorted the food into different categories, and chatted with some of the regular volunteers whilst doing so. Colin is quite a character, and Barb is just about the toughest cookie I have met in recent memory (other than my formidable mother, of course). The Depot has three service nights: on Mondays from 5-7 pm (for students or working people), and Wednesdays and Fridays from 10am-2pm. I sat at the front desk with Christy, who greets the clients as they come in and hands them a number. The people in the intake office then call each number (1, 2, 3, etc.) and take down the clients' names, file numbers, and their food preferences.

Tuesday was home deliveries to the elderly or disabled clients in the community who cannot come directly to the Depot to pick up food. I went with Alex Kudo, a volunteer and business student at Concordia. We drove around in pelting rain to around 11 residences, taking about 3 hours and about 2 double trips (because we forgot to give some residents their second bag.) I caught a cold that day, but overall it was good to see this aspect of the Depot's services as well.

Wednesday I went through some old flyers and pamphlets in the meeting room, as the Depot is in a state of transition with its information and resources for clients who have a variety of needs (they need information on health services, other food banks, day care, etc.) I think I found more than a few pamphlets from the mid 90s, and an FBI report circa 1986 on Pedophilia (I don't know why it was there--don't ask). I really wish I had written down some of the gems I found in that little manual. Here are a few I can grab from my memory:

Fallacy: Pedophiles are homosexuals.
Fact: Pedophiles can be men or women, and male pedophiles are not always homosexual.
Fallacy: You should keep your children at home at all times.
Fact: Pedophilia is often committed in places once considered safe, such as your own home, backyard, or child's bedroom. It is often someone who is not a stranger.

...and so on. Damn, now I really wish I hadn't thrown it into the reclying. The picture on the front was quite amusing as well.

Anyways, this is not to make light of pedophilia, blah blah blah etc. End politically correct disclaimer. But you have to admit, some of those fallacies are quite funny.

Wednesday: More service time, more intake. I did the intake sheets wrong, oops. I fixed it later, though.

Thursday: A bit of breathing room, had a chance to chat a little more with the staff. Fiona is the Executive Director of the Depot, and works incredibly hard. I wonder how she gets anything done though with the phone ringing all the time. Did I mention that the phone is always ringing? All the time.

Bonnie is the Good Food Box Coordinator. The Good Food Box is a food buying group coordinated regionally by Moisson Montreal (Harvest Montreal), in which residents of various Montreal municipalities can order different quantities of fruits and vegetables mostly grown in Quebec, for cheaper prices because a) they are bought in bulk, and b) it is all very local. Since working at the Depot I've learned how to do the basics of assisting in the running of the program, which involves taking orders, packing the boxes themselves for pickup at the Depot, and recruiting new clients.

Wendy is the Volunteer Coordinator, and I have to admit I have a special spot in my heart for her. She is an incredible little woman, with seemingly endless patience. I really must post photos of each and every one of the staff here soon.

Vineeth was recently hired as Food Programs Coordinator, and Romney as I mentioned earlier is a fellow summer intern who is working with the Zero Food Waste program and is general administrator in the food storage and distributions area. Both are great guys to work with, especially since I can bum rides to the metro station from them when it rains!

On Friday, Becky, Wendy's daughter and intake professional, schooled me on my erroneous intake ways (which I gratefully accepted, because looking back, my first intake sheet was a complete and utter disaster), and I learned to do intake...the right way.

I will update with photos next time of the Depot, and hopefully can do more regular posts reflecting on my time there.

Until then, take care friends, strangers, and lurkers.

quotable contradictions

"Nothing poisons love more than honesty.

If love lasts until the day we die,

We will live without showing our real

self

To our beloved until the day we die.

Love makes us more beautiful and

distorts us.

Love takes our impulse to lie to an

extreme."  

"Kneeling in surrender to great misfortunes Is far easier  

Than struggling against small ones."  

"Life Sometimes makes us choose evil

Willingly,  

Inevitably. 

We have to live hand in hand with contradiction."  

"Being deprived of the chance  

To discover life's deepest secrets  

Is a terrible thing 

(If I may say so). 

It is the misery of a patient on a

special diet 

Who has to eat the same thing, 

Every day, 

Day in, day out, 

For his entire life."  

from Contradictions, by Yang Gui-Ja