Around this time last year, Logan Lague grabbed his toboggan and trekked through the streets of Knowlton in search of items to give to those living in a vulnerable circumstances, that are unhoused, or do not have permanent housing. What started as a small initiative eventually became a community effort.<\/p>\n
Citizens put together whatever items they could find in support of Lague, some volunteered their time to sort through the items, and some even volunteered to do trips to bring the items to various shelters and organizations in Montreal.<\/p>\n
Lague, with the help of his mother Cynthia Royea, is bringing the initiative back for another year.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt started off with us looking at the news and there was a guy that died on the streets in Montreal that was homeless. I felt really bad and I didn\u2019t want that to happen to anybody else,\u201d recounted Lague.<\/p>\n
Royea eventually posted on Facebook to see what could be collected from the local community and the initiative quickly grew.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople just started coming, knocking at our door one after one. They came in saying \u2018oh I have some stuff\u2019 and \u2018this has a hole in it do you mind?\u2019 For someone who is homeless, it\u2019s saving a life just that one thing. A mitten, even if has a little hole in it, we just sew it back up and it\u2019s all good,\u201d mentioned Lague.<\/p>\n
After last year\u2019s success, Lague\u2019s initiative will keep on going, but they are currently trying to get their truck back on the road after the transmission blew.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve had a couple of people do trips because the items keep coming in. (\u2026) A couple of people were calling us asking us when we were going in and we were like well, the living room is full, the basement is full, but right now we can\u2019t leave the driveway,\u201d said Royea.<\/p>\n
Despite the lack of a vehicle, donations are still welcomed and there are specific needs.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s mostly sleeping bags, they are really helpful for them, sweaters, mittens, really all pieces of clothing, and toothbrushes also,\u201d said Lague.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe take basically everything, we even take summer clothes. (\u2026) The reality is, in the summer, less items come in, but they need summer shoes, they need the stuff,\u201d noted Royea.<\/p>\n
Lague and Royea often make trips out to Montreal to distribute items to women\u2019s shelters, organizations that serve the Indigenous community, and other places such as Maison du P\u00e8re and Old Brewery, witnessing first hand the impact the initiative is making.<\/p>\n
\u201cLogan helped saved a woman. We didn\u2019t know what was wrong with, but she couldn\u2019t walk. It was because her feet were so frozen and she only canvas shoes on. We opened the truck up and let her in,\u201d said Royea.<\/p>\n
\u201cI gave her my socks because she needed them more than I did and I have a bunch of pairs at home. It was nice for her and she was crying, she could barely speak because she was so cold,\u201d added Lague.<\/p>\n
The U-Haul rentals are paid out of pocket to ensure that the items get to where they need to go. Lague recently sold Christmas ornaments at the Christmas market in Brome, donated by a lady from New York that owned a Christmas shop, and raised $615 to go towards a U-Haul.<\/p>\n
Royea noted that they have received a lot of calls this year for local citizens and families in need in Brome Lake and surrounding areas.<\/p>\n
They have also collaborated with non-profit organization Centre D\u2019Action B\u00e9n\u00e9vole de Cowansville, by providing coats for children, and they have a relationship with the PR-RP Abercorn thrift store taking on the items they do not sell.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of people that work for the DPJ (Direction de la protection de la jeunesse) that knows of a family, they will call me. This is new this year. A lot of local families have been desperately in need. I think with the economy there is going to be a lot more also,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
As the need for basic necessities continue to grow, Lague said that he wants to continue his initiative for as long as possible.<\/p>\n
\u201cI really, really, really want to keep doing this. As long as we keep getting funds and as long as we keep getting donations, I think this can go on for a really long time,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Items can be dropped off at 316 Knowlton Road.<\/p>\n
Listen to the full interview below:<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Around this time last year, Logan Lague grabbed his toboggan and trekked through the streets of Knowlton in search of items to give to those living in a vulnerable circumstances, that are unhoused, or do not have permanent housing. What started as a small initiative eventually became a community effort. Citizens put together whatever items…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":113,"featured_media":132429,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[57],"tags":[3522,758,14408,19740,14470,582],"radio":[246],"origine":[274,259,260],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132423"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/113"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=132423"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132423\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":132452,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132423\/revisions\/132452"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/132429"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=132423"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=132423"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=132423"},{"taxonomy":"radio","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/radio?post=132423"},{"taxonomy":"origine","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/origine?post=132423"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}