Non-profit organizations (NPO) Centre D’action Bénévole de Cowansville (CAB Cowansville) and la Cellule Jeunes et Familles de Brome-Missisquoi (The Cellule) are seeking to join forces in support of Brome-Missisquoi citizens.

The idea for the collaboration came about when both organizations decided to put their expertise together to address the different needs of those that rely on CAB Cowansville’s food bank and the Cellule’s emergency food bank that go beyond just food insecurity. 

CAB Cowansville provides other services such as medical transport support, transport support for errands, income tax services, information services for seniors and caregivers, and friendship visits and phone calls. 

On the other hand, the Cellule addresses the different needs of youth, families and seniors in the community through listening services, information, referrals, support services, and structured activities and programs. 

Nathalia Guerrero Vélez, executive director of CAB Cowansville, said that as the project slowly takes shape, they will be looking for financial support to ensure its success. 

“It’s a really innovative project. The CAB has been running the food bank for many, many years. The Cellule, they have a small emergency food bank. People in need that have a crisis situation will go there and they offer help. The Cellule has something that the CAB does not have and that is counsellors,” said Guerrero Vélez.

For a long time we wanted to collaborate with organizations that have counsellors because we know that people that come to the CAB food bank have needs that are larger than just food needs, continued Guerrero Vélez. 

“There’s lots of things going on in their life and we are not, let’s say, qualified to respond to those needs. Sometimes we would refer them to services, but it’s not the same thing as counsellor who can really do a follow-up and develop a relationship with the person and help them,” she explained. 

Guerrero Vélez said that one of the main reasons why they decided to collaborate was to “unite the two expertise of the two organizations.”

“We are experts in food management. We have a really solid team of volunteers who make the orders, receive the food, organize it, distribute it, they are really good at that. The Cellule, their expertise is the counselling. (…) It’s awesome because we are showing that working together is better, that we can do better,” she added. 

Guerrero Vélez mentioned that funding will be needed to hire someone to coordinate the project. 

“We already started asking for funds for this project because we do need funding. It’s important to say that we are starting slowly to put it in place, but we already sent in requests for financial support. (…) It’s an important project, especially now that the demand is larger than ever,” she highlighted. 

In just one year, from 2021 to 2022, CAB Cowansville distributed over 2,000 food baskets. 

“In 2023, I’ll be able to tell you how many we distributed last year and I think it will be much, much, much more. The demand has increased so much. It will be interesting to see the statistics, we will see the real increase and it will be something,” said Guerrero Vélez. 

In the long-term, the objective is for people to become autonomous, noted Guerrero Vélez.

“The objective isn’t that they come here forever, and most people don’t. They just come when they have a particular need. People don’t come to the food bank because they like to, it’s really because they need to. This project really aims at providing a longer-term solution for them,” she said.

For more information on CAB Cowansville. 

For more information on the Cellule. 

Listen to the full interview below: