Operation: rescue!

day, we’re taking you behind the scenes of the Survivors project! 

Every Sunday, a tour is made at our partner grocery stores to collect the unsold items of the week. Each time, an average of 700 kg of fruits and vegetables, dairy products, meat, baked goods and even ready-to-eat still perfectly fit for consumption are saved in extremis! A portion of the collection, around 20%, is used by La Transformerie for sauces and spreads recipes, and another 74% is redirected to food aid. (1)

Follow our team of seasoned employees and volunteers on a food-saving odyssey, from the doors of Rosemont–La Petite-Patrie’s shops to our kitchens.

Ready ? Here we go!

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It is 7:45 am on a Sunday morning in December, at the corner of Drolet and Bélanger streets, and it is cold. Vincent, our truck driver, and Pierre, a regular volunteer, are getting ready for the weekly shopping tour.

The tour begins with the Petite-Patrie Community Action and Resource Centre (CRAC PP). There, the truck and ice boxes are collected to collect refrigerated or frozen food from a total of seven grocery stores. 

As soon as they board, we go straight to the first shop, at Improove, at the Central Market.

Approximate itinerary for the Sunday shopping tour !

9.30 am : While the truck is touring, the action starts quietly in the premises of La Transformerie.

It’s the calm before the storm. Maria, the coordinator, is preparing the large room where fruits and vegetables will be sorted for delivery very soon. In the kitchen, coffee is being prepared and the smell of pastries that are warming up in the oven is spreading; fuel is needed for the coming troops!

10.15 am: Madeleine (or Mado for the close ones!), a faithful volunteer always smiling, makes her arrival and helps Maria to install the necessary to facilitate sorting operations: scissors for resistant packaging, Paring knives to better remove the tack from fruits and vegetables, bins for garbage, recycling and compost, lark!

10.30am : Gradually, the other volunteers arrive, totaling about eight people. While we exchange over a coffee, the regulars get to know the new volunteers and explain briefly how the next steps work.

10h45 : Vincent and Pierre are back! After a few skillful manoeuvres, Vincent backs the truck, opens the door and a human chain is formed to unload the boxes of fruits and vegetables, which weigh on average 16 kg each, into the large sorting room. Only cold items such as meat, chilled and frozen products and ready-to-eat food will remain in the truck.

There is a weighing station at the entrance; accurate data on saved food is important for the proper functioning of the organism.  Mado and Sylvie note the weight of each box by listing it by trade. 

11h to 12h45 : A speaker broadcasts an air of Tina Turner while a real construction site is set up; the boxes, a good thirty in total, are installed on pallets arranged on the ground. 

And that’s where the action really starts!

In the right corner, Gisèle, Mado and Sylvie are busy sorting out the fruit that will be used in recipes for sauces, marmalades and spreads.

In the left corner, Anne, Hélène, Nancy and Harvey sort and store other food aid items.

Johanne takes care of grouping them together in empty boxes, which will facilitate their redistribution.

“Cedrick, I have a box full of bananas!”

Cédrick now plays the role of the runner, the one who runs between stations! … Or rather, who moves, weighs and organizes the sorted boxes, optimizing the rotation of operations.
He takes the crate of bananas, sets it aside, ready to be shipped.

“Cedrick, I have a full compost bin here!” says Anne. Our runner notes the weight of the bin before going to empty it in the brown bin (yes, we even weigh the compost!).

In the good mood, the piles of sorting boxes decrease rapidly, and the fruits destined for processing are sent to the kitchen to be washed and refrigerated. By the way, some foods are set aside for meals during the week at La Transformerie.

While the hive is buzzing inside, Pierre and Vincent weigh all the food left in the truck. Last crate on the scale and after, head to the kitchen to prepare dinner for the whole team!

Last effort before sitting down, the sorted boxes for CRAC PP are returned to the truck; the chain is redone but this time out. When everything is out, the pallets are picked up and the room is prepared for dinner.

On the menu today: omelette, roasted potatoes, cheese and toast, all accompanied by a salad with a homemade vinaigrette by Sylvie.

13h: “It’s ready! At the table, everyone!” The break is beneficial. We take the opportunity to sit down and exchange in a family atmosphere.

13h30: After a brief cleaning of the room following the meal, Pierre and Sylvain leave with the truck full of unsold sorted and organized in the morning, and end their day at CRAC PP, where they unload their cargo. 

The other volunteers set up to prepare the fruits and vegetables for processing; trimming, peeling, cutting, washing are all tasks to be carried out in order to maximize the conservation of the food, which will be cooked this week by Shirley, the production manager.

While Sylvie is organizing the ready-to-use trays in the cold room, Mado and Gisèle have been working on the impressive pile of dishes. 

15h45 : The day is coming to an end! In total, 23 kg of oranges and 15 kg of peeled grapefruit, 44 kg of apples trimmed, 24 small boxes of raspberries, blueberries and blackberries sorted and frozen, 10 kg of onions, 19 kg of pears, 14 kg of lemons, as well as 16 kg of tomatoes that end up in the cold room! 

4pm : Everything is tidied up and cleaned up, and the collection is officially over. 

See you next Sunday! Will you be one of us?. 🙂

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Thank you very much to all our precious volunteers!

As a not-for-profit organization (ONBL), La Transformerie, and mainly the activities of its Rescapés project, depend heavily on volunteering.

Interested in making a difference and joining our amazing team of volunteers? Write to Maria at ">.