65,000 Christmas cookies made at the Bell Center

Faced with many families in need, some 250 IGA employees gathered at the Bell Center on Thursday to decorate Christmas cookies. The initiative, carried out in collaboration with Quebec food banks, aims to bring a little sweetness during the holidays.

“Yes, there are essential products to give to these families, but happiness and products that sow joy are important too,” says the general director of Food Banks of Quebec, Martin Munger.

He was sitting at the Bell Center among 250 IGA employees decorating cookies for people in need.

The objective is ambitious: 65,000 cookies will be distributed to 5,000 families in need through the network of Food Banks of Quebec. Of these, 20,000 were handmade on this special day.

“We are very happy to be here. If it can give a little warmth to families, it’s extraordinary,” exclaimed Philippe Desmarais, who is one of the merchant-owners who decided to get involved.

The cookie decorating idea is connected to the IGA holiday story.

“We wanted to make the story concrete and involve all employees. When we decided to hold this charitable activity, 250 employees raised their hands to donate their time. These are people from the head office, warehouses and merchants as well,” explains Caroline Duhamel, director of communications and marketing at IGA.

For the second year, the activity was carried out with the help of La Tablée des Chefs. Last year, a 1.3 km log was put together for food banks in the province.

Growing demand

Mr. Munger confirmed during the event that the demand for Quebec food banks is still very high this year.

“We have reached 2.9 million requests for food aid which are responded to each month,” he says.

This therefore represents an increase of 13% in requests for assistance in one year and of 55% since 2021.

“It’s important, the statistics, and it’s unfortunate, people in this situation, but if we can also contribute a little happiness during the holiday season with these beautiful boxes of cookies, we are very happy,” he adds.