A while back, I decided that as I had plenty of time on my hands I would find a regular activity where I could volunteer (in French). Someone suggested ringing the local Centre Alimentaire. So I did, and before my course began, I visited the café and was taught how to be in charge of the till. Considering they didn't know me at all, this was a quite a leap of faith - letting a foreign stranger loose with their box of cash.
The Centre has been running for 25 years, and they operate various educational projects - for example, the 'seedling project' which helps youths grow fruit and vegetables and teaches them how to care for the plants. There are collective gardens too (a bit like a group activity allotment, and the crop is divided according to family size). The Food Centre also serves as a trial workplace for people who have challenges in finding employment. There is also a food bank, a 'healthy meals' programme, a Christmas sharing store, support for low-income pregnant women, a community transportation service, meals on wheels, collective kitchens (participants plan the recipes they'd like to prepare and then meet later for half a day of cooking in the Centre's kitchen - they go home with various portions of healthy meals to share with their families for a dollar a serving).
And then there's the café! It is open from Monday to Friday lunchtimes, and offers a three course lunch to recipients of the Food Centre at a very reduced cost. But it isn't just for attendees at the Food Centre; anyone can come in and have a meal - there are several regulars who come in and pay $5; still very cheap! Today was my first 'solo' day and it wasn't very busy. Apparently, that's typical the day after Canada Day. I spent a very profitable two hours filling in the attendees form and taking the money, one of the employees at the Centre offered me some free tickets to two benefit concerts being held during July in Ottawa (one Haydn and cello and the other Mozart piano concertos - and how many tickets would I like?!). Lastly, I spent a wonderful 20 mins chatting with the chef at the end of his shift. He had spotted me knitting (for in between the customers coming in, I passed the time trying to catch up with some rows of the blanket) and we fell into a conversation [in French] about children and various other things. He and his wife have an 18 month old son called Remi. Before settling down, the chef spent two years working in France; a year in Aix-en-Provence when he was 22, and another in the Pyrenees when he was 27. So we had a trip down memory lane talking about the Cours Mirabeau and the Stade Olympique in Marseille. He also spent four months on an exploring/cruise vessel in the Arctic Circle cooking local fish (can't remember the name) and caribou which he told me is delicious. He said next time we will have a cup of tea together, and he will ask me my views on having the Queen as Head of State in Canada (well, that won't take long)....
I pedalled away feeling very glad to be spending regular lunch-times there over the summer months, doing something useful.
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