Students lend a helping hand

Volunteering is tried, tested and true as a great way for University students to dedicate their free time to a good cause.

A group of Concordia students lent a helping hand this Tuesday at Accueil Bonneau in Old Montreal where they prepared and served a meal for the homeless.

The Concordia LIVE Centre connected students with this opportunity. It is the place to go for students looking to volunteer with a cause that they are interested in.

Valerie Millette is the coordinator for the LIVE Center. She has organized dozens of group volunteering activities in Montreal. She believes group volunteering is a great way to interest students in volunteer work.

“There’s something slightly less intimidating when you know this is a group of Concordia students who are going with somebody who works at Concordia, so things are organized and you know, if anything happens, somebody will be organizing and trying to make sure that things run smoothly.”

Things did run smoothly. Here’s how it works: Every person coming in to the Accueil Bonneau during mealtime receives a coupon. Individuals are sent to get their food by groups of ten until the eighty-six cafeteria seats are taken. When some people leave, more people are sent. This method proved to be very efficient at eliminating chaotic crowds.

The Accueil Bonneau is an organism that offers a diversity of services to homeless men or those at risk of becoming homeless. These services include daily meals, clothes, a hairdressing service, and a foot care clinic. Showers are also available for these men to use.

During mealtime, the volunteer students were each assigned a specific food item to give out and did so with enthusiasm and respect for those benefiting from the food service.

For many, it was their first volunteering experience in Montreal and they enjoyed it a lot. Kristy Dewey is a French Studies student at Concordia. She had only good words about those coming in to get food.

“I thought they were all really kind, very polite, definitely live a different life than ours, but they’re all in good spirit so it was really nice to see.”

The center is designed for university students and offers volunteering opportunities that are specific to each major. Many organizations are in need of volunteers all year long, and Valerie Millette strongly encourages all students to drop-by the LIVE center located in the Hall building of the Sir George Williams campus.

“In fact, people can just drop in, they can see our schedule on the website, volunteer.concordia.ca, they can see our schedule, drop-in when we’re open, just get some information, and we’ll take it from there.”

Audrey Folliot, CJLO News