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Breaking isolation with food aid: Ronnie’s story
Ronnie is 71. He lives alone in a 4 ½ in a peaceful corner of LaSalle he loves. “It’s quiet there, I like it a lot,” he says. Without children or a partner, Ronnie sees his sister on occasion, and a few friends. The days often pass in silence, each much the same as the last.
Then one day, his best friend started telling him about a community agency: the Nutri-Centre. She would bring it up every now and then… until one day Ronnie declared: “OK, I’ll come.” A seemingly trivial choice, but one that would change his life.
The Nutri-Centre LaSalle is a place where people come first and foremost to eat better. Launched in 1999 to respond to a lack of access to fresh and affordable food, the agency grew around a simple idea: to give vulnerable people the means to cook, garden and learn together. Between its expansive, pesticide-free collective garden, its lively cooking workshops and its neighbourhood market full of fresh products, the Nutri-Centre has created a space where confidence can be regained, one bite at a time.
Rediscovering the pleasure of eating well
In the beginning, Ronnie stuck to what he knew. He ordered apples, a few tomatoes. Nothing complicated. But when he discovered the 25,000-square-foot collective garden, he learned, little by little, to cook food he knew nothing about, like Swiss chard.
“They showed me how to cook it, boiled and everything,” says Ronnie, who, before he discovered the Nutri-Centre, lived mainly on ready-to-eat meals. “I eat many more fresh fruits and vegetables than I did before. My fridge is much fuller. It really helps me keep a healthy diet.”
Today, he says he feels better than he did 15 or even 20 years ago. Cholesterol, blood pressure — he decided to regain control over these health issues. And most of all, over his prediabetes. “I wanted to understand what it was, this disease,” he explains. “I went to the workshops on diabetes offered by the Nutri-Centre and learned what is good to eat and how to apply it in my daily life. It helped me a lot.”
🌱 A garden where solidarity grows, too
Every hour spent gardening earns 8.5 NutriPoints — and one NutriPoint is worth a dollar. With these points, members can pay for their groceries in the Nutri-Centre market.
It’s a simple and human model that gives everyone access to healthy food while placing a real value on helping one another.
Getting out of the house to break isolation
What Ronnie found at the Nutri-Centre was so much more than food and workshops. He found a place where he truly feels welcome. “You make friends here. It brings joy. You want to come because of the people, too. Me, I like people. I’m more open than before,” he says, and his sincerity speaks volumes about the road he took to get there.
Those who have known him from the start confirm it: his transformation is unmistakable. Staff describe a man more confident, cheerful and radiant than the one who crossed the threshold for the first time.
Today his deepest wish is that others may experience what he has. According to Ronnie, sometimes it only takes very little for things to start changing: one step, one meeting, one visit to a place that doesn’t look like anything you’ve seen before, but ends up becoming a beacon. “I’m doing quite a bit better today, compared to how I was before,” he says.
Did you know that 31% of seniors in Quebec live alone?
Ronnie’s story is also the story of thousands of people in Greater Montreal for whom community agencies make a real difference. By supporting Centraide, you enable these agencies to continue to take care of more vulnerable people and transform their daily lives by making them feel stronger, more included and more alive. And sometimes that’s all it takes for a personal trajectory to go in a whole new direction.
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Source: Statistics Canada, 2021 Census
1 out of 5 people receives our help.
5 out of 5 people benefit from it.
Let’s all lend a hand
Supporting a network of over 375 community agencies also means promoting an inclusive, poverty-free society.
