MONTREAL — They donned aprons, some over their neckties – businessmen, rabbis, a former hospital director, senior community staff – and served meals to those in need.

The occasion was the official opening of Le Café, a program providing free suppers twice a week in the Cummings Jewish Centre for Seniors (CJCS) cafeteria.

Anyone can come – any age, any religion. No questions are asked, no reservations are required. And they have been coming, up to 200 a night, since Le Café started on March 17.

The program is sponsored by anonymous private donors. It is run, with the exception of a small paid staff in the kitchen, by volunteers. On this night, the officers of Federation CJA, from president Marc Gold down, were taking their turn.

The volunteers do almost everything from greeting at the door, to preparing the food, to handing out the trays and cleaning up. Although this is a cafeteria, the same one used by paying customers at breakfast and lunch, clients of Le Café are served at the table.

Everything is done to ensure that those who come to eat are treated with dignity and enjoy pleasant surroundings. The cafeteria is a bright airy place with large windows all around.

Rabbi Chaim Steinmetz, who admitted to being unaccustomed to the apron and serving role, said “this is what tzedakah is all about. Helping people in a way they need most; it’s not just about money, it’s about the personal involvement.”

Gold, running from kitchen to table, said that, while it is regrettable so many people need this assistance, it was wonderful to see them eating in a “warm, welcoming, dignified environment. There’s no stigma.”

It is also gratifying to see the community rally. “We have generous donors and people knocking on our door to help as volunteers.”

Personally, he was touched to have direct contact with people helped. “It’s something to be able to exchange a few words with an elderly woman from the former Soviet Union, who looks like your bubbie and is so grateful.”

The program was created in response to a sharply increased demand in the past few months for assistance in the cost of living.

The trend was especially noticeable at the CJCS where enquiries rose by about 20 per cent in December, January and February, said executive director Herb Finkelberg. Food coupons have been the traditional way of helping feed the undernourished, but it was thought a more personal outreach was needed.

The response was swift from the federation, he said. Within three weeks of the proposal for Le Café, the first meal was served. The donors are committed to underwriting the program for a least a year.

“The cost of food, as well as drugs and housing, has soared,” Finkelberg said. For those on limited incomes, something has to go, and often people skimp on their medication.

“There is also a psychological component; when people hear everyday about an economic crisis, they get scared,” he added.

Agence Ometz has also seen an increased demand for its services in the last few months from younger people, many who have lost jobs, often in manufacturing. They are at the middle and senior management levels or owned businesses that failed.

Finkelberg said people of all ages are coming to Le Café, in particular young families and seniors. And so far it has not been the same people coming all the time, he said, meaning Le Café is probably frequented by 300 different people a week.

Le Café is open Tuesdays and Thursdays, from 5-7 p.m. By 4:45 p.m., on this day, people were already lining up to get in.

No screening is done because it is assumed that anyone who comes for free food must need it. It is also a fundamental Jewish teaching that when someone comes to you hungry, you must feed him, he said. They may not be starving, but getting at least one solid meal a day will help them stretch their resources a bit.

Costs are kept down by the volunteers. In fact, there are so many offers to pitch in, that there is not enough work for everyone. They are coming, not only those associated with federation agencies, but also synagogues, schools, professional firms and businesses.

A full-course, kosher hot meal is always served. On this night, there’s soup, and a plate with salmon, rice-and-beans and salad, and an apple-crumb dessert, plus juice, milk, tea or coffee. For those, such as children, who may not like fish, there’s also spaghetti and French fries.

It’s the same food that is served to paying customers earlier in the day, whose preparation is supervised by a professional chef, with experience in high-volume food services. All of the food is bought, not donated, in order to ensure its quality.

Entertainment is also on the program each night, sometimes someone plays the piano or tells stories. Tonight, a cartoonist is delighting the kids with his drawings of them.

A social worker is also always discreetly on hand. “People sometimes present with a need for food, but there are often other problems,” Finkelberg pointed out.

Le Café is supplementing the service of Mada, a large kosher food bank and cafeteria under Chabad-Lubavitch auspices, which for several years has been serving three meals a day, 365 days a year.

Without detracting what Mada does, Fineberg said the CJCS is able to provide more congenial surroundings than Mada’s premises in Plaza Côte des Neiges.

Finkelberg said a second service may be added if the demand at Le Café keeps up.

Ometz co-executive directors Gail Small and Howard Berger say the agency’s intake of job seekers is up about 10 per cent in the past three or four months. At the same time, the agency’s placement rate is down 20 per cent because of the slump. Many come saying they are having trouble making mortgage payments.

“Our primary role is to see that people have a roof over their head and food on the table,” said Berger. “If people have suffered a reversal, we try to ensure that they do not lose their house.”