Food bank celebrates bar mitzvah

MONTREAL — Thirteen years after it opened with little fanfare, the MADA kosher food bank has changed in many ways.

While its commitment to the Jewish needy has remained constant, the food bank that opened at Plaza Cote des Neiges in the early 1990s has grown exponentially, taken on new responsibilities, occupies a much larger space in the plaza and uses several off-site warehouses.

Typewriters and pens have long since given way to a state-of-the-art computer databank that ensures things are running well and needs are being met.

In addition, MADA has a mobile cafeteria, and supplies furniture, appliances, clothing and social support to individuals and families, as well as educational and social programs.

“There is a continuing increase in need, so we increase the activity to meet the need,” said administrator Yossi Drihem, who works with director Rabbi Chaim Shlomo Cohen and seven other staffers, as well as some 300 volunteers. “We are now one of the largest food banks in the province.”

A recent in-house newsletter stated that MADA is becoming “Montreal’s central address for fighting Jewish poverty.”

MADA’s status reflects the reality that Jewish poverty in Montreal is on the rise, but also the more positive element that MADA is fulfilling its promise to respond to it. “There has been an increase in need, but there has also been an increase in the ability to meet the need,” Drihem said.

During a recent tour of the facilities, Drihem cited the numbers that prove his statement.

MADA’s food bank, he said, provides custom-ordered food baskets packed with up to $150 worth of essential foodstuffs to 1,800 people every month, and that number is growing. The food bank operates out of a 2,000-square-foot warehouse that contains more than 25,000 kosher food items.

“A $150 food basket costs us $25,” Drihem said. “That’s the key.”

The in-house cafeteria, which is open every day, serves more than 100,000 hot meals every year, not to mention the 25,000 it serves on Shabbat and Jewish holidays. Last April, MADA arranged for a number of seders at various locations, including at MADA itself.

Especially exciting for MADA has been the development of its ability to provide fresh produce. Moisson Montreal, Canada’s largest food bank, supplies fruits and vegetables to MADA, and “we are one of its biggest recipients,” Drihem said.

As we walked through the hallways and corridors and into the basement of Cote des Neiges Plaza, Drihem showed off the things MADA is especially proud of, among them an industrial-quality electric mixer and a dishwasher any five-star restaurant would be proud of – all donated.

Other things that have made a huge difference include a refrigerator truck to transport perishable food, a walk-in freezer and refrigerator that allow food baskets to contain fresh and frozen items, a 1,500-square-foot clothing depot (MADA took over the operations of Le Merkaz two years ago, but unlike Le Merkaz, does not charge for clothes), as well as a spacious warehouse-type room with commercial shelving to house non-perishable food items. All are brought in and moved about on pallets using a forklift, and at least one-fifth of the nonperishable items consist of staples such as oil, tuna, rice and sugar, Drihem said.

Frequently during the year, he noted, MADA also provides spiritual sustenance by arranging for free brit milahs and bar mitzvahs.

MADA depends heavily on donations, both individual and corporate, to cover the its overhead costs, which amount to well over $1 million a year, compared to only one-tenth of that a decade ago. The value of donations to MADA – food, furniture, clothing – is another $5 to $6 million, Drihem said.

He said although MADA is nonsectarian in the sense that no one who comes to MADA is asked their religion, he estimates that 90 per cent of its food bank clientele is Jewish. According to the MADA website, almost 20 per cent of the Jewish community – some 17,000 people – live at or beneath the poverty line.

MADA also receives support from FEDERATION CJA, and is in touch on a regular basis with community agencies including Jewish Immigrant Aid Service and Jewish Family Services – now both part of the new Agence Otzma – for referrals and to deal with specific cases.

Drihem would ultimately like to see MADA expand its services even more by turning its food bank into a bona fide store and having MADA evolve into a much larger community centre.

The abiding principle behind MADA, he said, is to preserve the human dignity of the people who need it.

“We all share the same vision,” he said.