Montreal, December 21, 2022 - The Caisse Desjardins de Mercier-Est-Anjou is pleased to announce the projects selected for the program Illuminer la vie des gens. This initiative has made it possible to distribute a total of $22,500 to local organizations that had submitted a project of theirs for consideration earlier this year.

Projects with promise
The following four organizations stood out for their projects that mobilized the community. The Caisse is very proud to recognize their contribution and offer them these respective donations:

Magasin-Partage Mercier-Est/Saint-François d'Assises - $10,000
Magasin-Partage has a major impact on its neighbourhood by providing food aid to those who are in greatest need. At the beginning of the school year, 130 families received a grocery basket and 255 backpacks of school supplies. Last winter, they distributed 1,516 baskets providing winter assistance. Magasin-Partage will use this donation to continue its mission of "alleviating hunger, to better nourish hope."

Opération surveillance Anjou - $5,000
Anjou has the highest proportion of senior citizens, making up 22% of the borough’s population. Throughout the pandemic, approximately 10,000 seniors felt the adverse effects of isolation. This project mobilizes that demographic community around activities that help to break through their isolation, as well as preventing mistreatment and abuse of all kinds and enhancing seniors’ agency and well-being. The services offered by Opération surveillance Anjou are adapted to "developing and highlighting seniors’ leadership in the borough."

Service d'aide communautaire Anjou - $5,000
A few years ago, SAC Anjou put together a seniors' comedy troupe. The project offers a forum to address the various topics that have a direct effect on seniors, and through which they can develop their ideas and take part in a creative process. The aim of the project is to record their creative journey in writing and mount it on stage, sharing their realities and their stories. Creative writing allows seniors to “discover and explore another art form, another path of self-expression.”

Le Frigo de l'Est - $2,500 (Employees’ Favourite Award)
Inspired by concern for youngsters’ well-being, this organization delivers lunches to two neighbourhood schools for those students who are most at risk due to food insecurity situations. This year, 50 children will have access to a healthy and diversified diet at school, five days a week. Le Frigo is setting up a pilot project: “to help achieve the food security required to ensure children’s development.”

Illuminating People's Lives: About Us
Illuminer la vie des gens is an initiative established up by the Caisse Desjardins in Mercier-Est-Anjou. It invites local organizations to submit their projects to the Caisse. The selected projects then share a total of $22,500 in donations. This contribution is made possible by the Community Development Fund, which is financed by decision of the members at the general assembly to direct a portion of the surplus earnings reserved for dividends towards investment in the community.

“We would like to thank all the organizations that applied and all the many community members who submitted their projects, as well as our own employees, who saw what great initiatives were out there and who had some difficult choices to make. We are very fortunate and grateful to be part of a neighbourhood with such valued residents and such a rich social fabric,” said Dominique Raîche, General Manager of the Caisse.

About Caisse Desjardins, Mercier-Est-Anjou
With total assets of $1.5 billion, Caisse Desjardins Mercier-Est-Anjou contributes to the economic and social development of its 43,475 members and the community in which it operates. It offers the full range of Desjardins Group products and services, of which it is an integral part. As the largest cooperative financial group in Canada, Desjardins Group is recognized as one of the most solid financial institutions in the world and as an exceptional corporate citizen.

For more information:
Pascale Cadieux
Director, Human Resources and Communications
(514) 351-1916, extension 7251301
pascale.v.cadieux@desjardins.com