Santropol Roulant is a Montreal-based not-for-profit organization founded and run by young people in the community. They bring people together across generations and cultures through our innovative meals-on-wheels service, our intergenerational activities and our volunteer programs.
Santropol Roulant uses food as a vehicle to break social and economic isolation between generations and to strengthen and nourish our local community. We engage a diversity of people to take an active role in their communities through initiatives that address the health and food security needs of seniors and Montrealers living with a loss of autonomy.
Santropol Roulant has since grown and evolved into an important community space and continues to learn from the many people who are at the heart of the organization and its vitality and who give their time, energy, ideas and support.
Santropol Roulant’s primary program is a meals-on-wheels service organized by young people (and the young at heart!) committed to building a healthy community. On average, we cook and deliver 90 fresh and home-made meals 5 days a week, Monday through Saturday.
More than just nourish the body, we endeavor to use food as a vehicle to help break social isolation and bring people together across cultures and generations. We make the meals right here in our kitchen in Plateau-Mt. Royal. We pack them in thermal bags and deliver them by bicycle, on foot and by car across the city.
Our clients are people living with a loss of autonomy. This might include seniors, outpatients, people with disabilities, the chronically ill and people living with AIDS. The majority of the clients are seniors who have difficulty with the mobility required in order to obtain and prepare balanced meals on a daily basis. Clients are referred to Santropol Roulant by CLSCs, social workers, hospitals or family doctors.
Some striking facts:
• Between 1981 and 2011, the number of people 65 and over will have doubled.
• One third of Montreal’s seniors live alone and are increasingly in need of health care services.
• As many as 50% of Montreal’s seniors suffer from malnutrition.
• 25,000 meals were made and delivered by Santropol Roulant last year alone.
Taken from: https://santropolroulant.org/
Recently, Parker Cohn and Wilson Slader seized the break in cold weather to test their geography of Montreal and deliver meals for a good cause. We hope that this becomes a Champlain Montreal tradition because it is a great way to reach out to the community with other like minded individuals and get to know a different corner of the city.
Written by Duncan McKenna
Activity Coordinator @Champlain Montreal