Latest news with #Pierrefonds
CTV News
4 days ago
- Business
- CTV News
First-of-its-kind food insecurity summit in Montreal looks for long-term solutions
At the On Rock Community Services food bank, staff struggle to fill shelves often. (Swidda Rassy/CTV News) Food insecurity is a crisis that is growing across Canada, and the first-ever food insecurity summit in Montreal focused on delivering real solutions. At the On Rock Community Services in Pierrefonds on the West Island, the stocks of food are low and barely keeping up with demand. 'We've never run out, but we have been in a place where we walk around with a bit of a worried face, wondering if we're going to make it this week,' said president Kim Reid. Reid said his food bank helps around 300 families in and around the borough, but every week, he sees new faces. 'One week we had 17 registrations,' he said. Limited supplies mean more 'Not This Week' signs go up regularly. Data from Food Banks Canada shows that more than 2 million people visit a food bank each month, which are numbers that have never been seen before. 'So the stat that really keeps me up at night is that 30 per cent of food banks ran out of food last year before they could meet their community's needs,' said Food Banks Canada CEO Kirstin Beardsley. At the Food Insecurity Summit, stakeholders from across the country gathered to find solutions, as food banks face the perfect storm of rising cost of living, lack of supplies and increased hunger. 'The rate that we're seeing the increase right now is going to be unsustainable in the long term,' said Philanthropy/Food Banks of Quebec director Veronique Beaulieu-Fowler. The goal of the summit is to cut food insecurity by half in the next five years. 'But we also need to look long-term at reducing the number of people who need food banks in the first place, and that's going to take government policy and government action,' said Beardsley. She added that a collective effort will be needed from governments, corporations, non-profits and individuals. At On Rock Community Services, the staff takes it a day at a time. 'It's another one of those up-and-down things where sometimes we're doing great and other times we're riding the ragged edge of disaster,' said Reid.
CTV News
7 days ago
- Sport
- CTV News
Amid dwindling membership, Quebec's lawn bowling champ looks to grow the sport
Lawn bowling is seeing new life in Pierrefonds, where champion Ryan Craig and fellow members are working to revive the sport and attract a new generation of players. When Ryan Craig moved from Northern Ireland to Pierrefonds three years ago, one of the first things he did was join a lawn bowling club. 'I came through the game at a young age because of my grandmother,' said Craig. 'She was an international coach for Ireland. And she gave me some coaching, and I just fell in love with the game.' Craig won the Quebec Men's Single Lawn Bowling championship several weeks ago and will be going to compete in the national championship in Edmonton this summer. 'The trophy was first played for in 1925. And that was a pretty special moment to win that,' he said. The game of bowls, also known as lawn bowling, traces its roots back to ancient Egypt. It flourished in Scotland and, from there, was exported around the world, including to Quebec, where it was once a popular sport. In the last few decades, Craig said lawn bowling clubs have struggled to stay alive. 'We've probably gone from 2500 members down to 500 playing members. We used to have around 11 or 10 clubs. Now we are down to five.' The city owns the Pierrefonds Lawn Bowling Club, but it is mostly run by volunteers who organize fundraisers throughout the year. Membership is around $150 for the year and is open to all ages. 'It's low impact, so that is the nice part. Anybody can do it,' said member Carolyn McGarr. 'I'm also a curler, and it's it's a different type of sport, but the strategy is exactly the same.' McGarr said it is also a social game, and it offers company to those who may be isolated. 'During the pandemic, we lost a lot of members to Covid, and it allowed their spouses to have somewhere to go, somewhere to share their feelings and their loss,' she said. Member John Devlin said it's important to introduce the sport to children at a young age. 'Once they see it and try it, they'll be hooked,' he said. 'We need to try and get away from the perspective that it's an old person's game.'
