Press release

Montréal, October 19 – On Thursday, October 20, over 160 volunteer employees from the Casino de Montréal, the Société des casinos du Québec (SCQ) and Espacejeux.com, will participate in Annual Volunteer Day benefiting Moisson Montréal in order to provide monthly assistance to 146,000 people in need in the Greater Montréal Area.

Highlights:
• This is the sixth consecutive year that these employees organize a food sorting activity in Moisson Montréal facilities.
• Last year, close to 11,000 kg of meat was sorted, 2,600 boxes were filled with various products and 9,200 boxes were labelled, the equivalent of one day’s worth of food for 810  young children.
• Additionally, a food drive was organized by employees. Since October 3, 2016, almost 700 kg of food was collected.
• Annual Volunteer Day is part of the long-standing partnership, and is deployed as part of Loto-Québec’s corporate volunteerism program designed to give employees opportunities to positively contribute to their community by taking part in volunteer activities or getting involved in the community.

Quotes
• “Volunteer Day by Casino de Montréal employees is particularly timely as the Holiday season approaches. It allows us to better assist our 254 affiliated organizations in meeting greater demand as low-income families on the island of Montréal see their household budget shrink,” said Richard D. Daneau, General Manager, Moisson Montréal. “According to a recent study by the INRS (Institut national de la recherche scientifique), the percentage of workers who live below the poverty line has been on the rise for the past few years. This is of concern to us at Moisson Montréal, as these workers represent 10.6% of of those we aid,” he added.
• “Annual Volunteer Day is a uniting initiative involving employees from our four Québec casinos, the head office and Espacejeux. It is part of our willingness to join forces with Moisson organizations across Québec,” said Kevin Taylor, President, SCQ.
• “I am particularly proud of today’s volunteer employees. They give their time to provide hands-on support to Moisson Montréal in its quest to fight food insecurity,” said Marc Laporte, General Manager, Casino de Montréal.

About the Casino de Montréal
Well-known for the variety of its games and excellent customer service, the Casino de Montréal welcomes over five million visitors every year. The Casino offers a wide range of entertainment options – shows, restaurants, bars, multimedia environment – while its architecture has become emblematic of our great city.

About Moisson Montréal
Moisson Montréal is a non-profit organization founded in 1984 that is today the largest food bank in Canada thanks to its food collection and distribution programs intended to provide emergency food assistance. Every month, the organization hands out over 1,000 tonnes of foodstuffs to over 250 accredited community organizations on the island of Montréal who offer food aid to 146,000 persons, including 34,000 children. Moisson Montréal is funded and supplied mostly via donations. Its operations require the cooperation of almost 9,000 volunteers per year and support the distribution of approximately 14 million kg of foodstuffs every year, representing over $81 million. Moisson Montréal has been awarded three prizes for its in-supermarket collection program: Mercure – Sustainable development from the FCCQ in 2016, Novæ from Entreprise citoyenne in the “Supply” category in 2015, and Élixir – Public’s favourite from PMI-Montréal in 2015. For more information, visit www.moissonmontreal.org.

Event photos available upon request