Le Café Goes Green With Help From Brown

Today, Federation CJA received a US$85,300 grant from The UPS Foundation, the charitable arm of UPS, for their local soup kitchen, Le Café, located in the heart of Montreal.  This is the largest grant awarded by The UPS Foundation to the Montreal community.

The grant will provide much needed sustainable upgrades to the facility urgently needed to meet the growing demand. Federation CJA plans to implement infrastructure for an automated dishwashing station, which will enable the use of reusable materials rather than the current disposable items. All disposables throughout the cafeteria and kitchen will be replaced with durable, but still lightweight, alternatives. Federation CJA's Green Committee will be involved in all aspects of the planning, development and implementation.

Le Café was established in 2009 to address the needs of people most affected by the global economic crisis. The food bank provides hot meals to anyone in need of healthy food, friendly conversation and good company.

"UPS's extraordinary generosity is exemplary of how the corporate and non-profit sectors can partner together to ensure the betterment of community," said David Cape, President of Federation CJA. "Through UPS's outstanding commitment to Le Café, Federation CJA will be able to improve service to the thousands of people who depend on the kitchen for nutritious, hot meals annually. This one-time grant will enable the upgrade of the Cummings Centre for Seniors' kitchen and facilities and the purchase of new equipment. We are so grateful to UPS for their inspiring philanthropy."

More than 60,000 meals have been served since Le Café's inception in March of 2009. Every week, more than 400 people benefit from the services at Le Café.  Thanks to the grant, an additional 55 seats also will be added to the kitchen to enable them to help more of Montreal's residents.

"UPS has had a long-standing commitment to supporting our communities and partnering with local charities," said Nicolas Dorget, vice-president of communications, UPS Canada. "In this past year alone, our employees have contributed approximately 100 volunteer hours at Le Café. That is a tremendous achievement and we are proud to support the efforts of our employees and the needs of the Montreal community."

Edited by: Kristin Craik