Moisson Montreal misses fundraising goal by over 70%

Moisson Montreal managed toraisejust under 30per cent of its fundraising goal during its campaign to raise money for disadvantaged children, which ended Saturday night.

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The fifth annual Great Food Drive for Children raised $100,000 of its $350,000 goal, despite adding over a week to the traditional10-day campaign.

Richard Daneau, Moisson Montreal's executive director, said the money was much neededfor the 18,000 children under five years of agewho don't have enough to eat inthe Greater Montreal region, including Laval and the South Shore.

"If you can imagine, it's almost enough childrento fill the Bell Centre. It's unbelievable," Daneau said.

"The issue of food insecurity in the Greater Montreal area is to a much larger extent than most people seem to think," he added.

He said the number of community organizations they send food donationsto increased from 86 to 200 in the last year, showing the rising demand for formula and other foodsfor toddlers.

Less corporate donations

Daneau said one of the reasons the food bank was so far from its fundraising goal was because businesses were slow to give.

"Corporate donations are much lower than what we have seen in past year," he said.

Though he believed business donations would eventually come in,DaneaufeltMoisson Montreal could have done a better job of reaching out to anglophone communities as well.

"We were not present enough with the English community. That is a fact," he said.

Donation period extended

Since the campaign is still far from reaching its goal, Daneau said the food bank would continue to accept donations for at least another week.

Daneau said donations to food banks like Moisson Montreal were a good deal, adding that one dollardonated translated to $15 worth of food, in part thanks to the free food donations they receive.

He also said the food bank was very proud of its low administrative costs "at least 99 per cent" of all the proceeds from the Good Food Drive for Children will go to its partnering community centres, he said.

In a last plea, Daneau stressed that the stakes were too high for young children in low-income families.

"We're talking about people who don't have a Plan B, toddlers who suffer from food insecurity. If we don't help them, we let them down .

Donations can be made in person, on the phone or online at greatfooddrive.com.