Montrealers gather to help mother in need
Posted February 7, 2022 3:33 pm.
“There was nothing wrong with her she wasn’t sick so a huge shock, and then on December 31st, I got a call from my landlord to say that my apartment was burnt down, which is super traumatizing because all of my daughter’s belongings got lost, I didn’t even get a chance to discard of the stuff on my own readiness.”
After the death of her four-month-old daughter and then losing her home to an electrical fire, Sharifa Delpeche had to start from scratch. She had nowhere to turn until a Montreal Facebook group that focuses on Montrealers helping Montrealers lent a hand in a big way.
“I just think problems are amplified and our organizations and systems are very stretched and so this is just one more place that people can go and get help,” said Leah Lasry, founder of Montrealers helping Montrealers.
The group titled “Montrealers helping Montrealers” was created during the first wave of COVID-19 and was made to help anyone in Montreal that needed it.
“The heart of the community came out to help me. I would say that with the time that a request was made no more than ten days,” explained Delpeche.
“People just really rose to the occasion someone offered a stainless steel stove, another person a stainless steel fridge people offered bed frames people offered mattresses, bedsheets people offered household appliances dining room tables chairs,” Lasry told CityNews.
Within a span of 15 days the members of the group had furnished and helped Sharifa get a new apartment, something Delpeche says would not have otherwise been possible.
“I contacted a lot of organizations and the CLSC in Longueuil and the speed at which the assistance would be given I would never be in this place that I am right now.”
Delpeche’s daughter Zamira-Abbeygail passed away due to SIDS which is sudden infant death syndrome. And while Delpeche has no answers as to why that happened she says it’s more important than ever before for her to stay positive for herself and her three sons.
“We might not understand why we’re going through what we’re going through but there’s always a reason it’s for growth,” she explained.
“Sometimes your greatest failure happens to be your greatest success, so I just wanna keep that strength also I’m trying to be strong for my children to show them that bad things happen, it can happen to you or someone else but you got to keep that faith, I got to take this situation and be happy about what I still have and not what I lost.”
