All Saints’ supports many important organizations in the West Island and greater Montreal.
Every Thanksgiving, we collect produce for Omega Community Resources. Omega is a non-profit community organization that provides support and assistance to adults living with mental health problems in the West Island of Montreal. They strive to make a positive difference in the lives of our clients through our programs and activities.
We have an ongoing relationship with St. Michael’s Mission, for whom we collect a monthly bulk food item. St. Michael’s Mission has existed for over 75 years as a day mission for the those in need of shelter and other essentials in downtown Montreal. Having recently moved from the basement of St John the Evangelist Church to a location within St. George’s, Place du Canada, it is open 24/7 as a shelter, and provides showers, clean clothes and a hot meal every weekday. For many years we have collected good used clothes and magazines in the Red Barrel, which are delivered regularly when the barrel is full; and every Christmas, the St Michael’s tree is set up in November for donations of new socks, underwear, mittens, tuques and toiletries. These are taken to the Mission in time to distribute at their Christmas party, at which the clients also receive a full turkey dinner.
For a number of years groups of parishioners would visit the Mission to cook and serve meals, but this activity was suspended during the COVID pandemic, and we are still working out how to move forward in the new space. Nevertheless, St Michael’s Mission is near and dear to our hearts at All Saints’, and many parishioners make monetary donations which are always sorely needed and greatly appreciated.
We also have a permanent collection box for nonperishable food items for Dorval Community Aid, the municipal aid organization of the City of Dorval, located just down the street in the Sarto-Desnoyers Community Centre. At Christmas, we generally sponsor six families through the Community Aid Christmas Basket program.
In addition, you can bring your clean used milk bags (the outer bag, not the one that actually held the milk!) to church and we will collect them and pass them on to the team at Summerlea United in Lachine that weaves them into mats to be given to folks downtown living with homelessness.
