Tragedy inspires generosity at Sun Youth

Nicolas Carpentier

We all heard about the tragic death of Olivier Turcotte, 5, and Anne-Sophie Turcotte, 6, on February 21 at their home in Piedmont. Their father has been charged with first degree murder. In the children’s obituary, the mother, Isabelle Gaston, asked people to reach out and to help those in need instead of sending flowers.

This message greatly touched a Montreal business man, himself the grandfather of two children about the same age as Olivier and Anne-Sophie. He contacted Sun Youth Organization and decided to anonymously give $10,000 towards purchasing milk and eggs for children under the age of 12.

“The timing for this donation is perfect,” said Eric Kingsley, coordinator of client services. “On a daily Tragedy inspires generosity at Sun Youth basis, we have seen the number of families requesting the services of our emergency food bank jump from 80 to 125 in just a few months. Many of these families have children under the age of 12. This $10,000 will help us cope with the increased demand.”

“Since this donation has been announced, a few other donors came forward and offered to support us in our efforts to feed the children, said Sid Stevens, executive vice-president of Sun Youth. “One particular donor is looking into purchasing honey to include in all of the food hampers given to expecting mothers.”

Stevens says that the donor responsible for the $10,000 wants to inspire other donors to do something similar and give to food banks across the province of Quebec to help feed children. “There are 132,000 people using food banks in Montreal on a monthly basis; 82,000 of them are children. The Piedmont tragedy sparked something positive among our donors, but there is still a lot of work to be done to help children in need,” Stevens said.

We remind you that the Sun Youth food bank will once again embark on a spring-summer food drive. Bring non-perishable items to Sun Youth, 4251 St. Urbain, Montreal, H2W1V6. Collect food at your workplace and call us to pick it up. Contact 514-842-6822.