Giving Tuesday: Montrealers donate thousands of winter coats to those in need

Montrealers collected thousands of winter coats through Renaissance’s annual Wall of Kindness initiative, and on Giving Tuesday they were distributed to those in need at the Maison du Père shelter.

“It’s really a call to the community to give,” said Marie-Claude Masson, Marketing & Communications Director, Renaissance. “It’s time to give.”

CityNews brought you to the launch of this year’s initiative back on Nov. 13th, World Kindness Day.

Since then, Montrealers were encouraged to hang a coat they no longer needed at one of the four locations.

“You give a coat, you give warmth,” said Masson. “But it’s hope.”

“It’s just giving hope to someone and say, we are there for you.”

Over 2,500 winter coats were donated to the Maison du Père shelter.

The Renaissance non-profit organization, who spearheads the initiative, said that about 100 of those were collected from the Walls of Kindness.

The rest, came from donors at their Renaissance stores.

And some even unaccounted for, if someone needed a jacket they were able to pick one up directly from the walls at anytime.

“Warm winter coats are really expensive,” said Masson. “They’re in the hundreds of dollars.”

“So we have beautiful merchandise to give away, but clearly there are more people in need than ever before.”

“I have the chance to have one for free,” explained Louis Diabo, who thanked the organizations for this initiative. “For me, it’s a nice Christmas gift.”

“I would’ve frozen outside,” added another Montrealer. “It’s a good organization, we are lucky to have them.”

Smiles, music, and warmth filled the shelter this Giving Tuesday – a global generosity movement, celebrated annually on the Tuesday after American Thanksgiving.

“I’m so, so happy to see the generosity of the people in action,” said Lizette Flores, Executive Director, Maison du Père. “Now you can see it’s really, really concrete.”

“These are the coats that people give,” she added. “We are getting ready to give them to the people that need it the most.”

Renaissance also donated $2,000 to the shelter.

And the team already looking forward to next year’s Wall of Kindness.

“This is just a way to say, you know, hang in there,” said Masson. “There are people who do want to help.”

“But it’s together that we will help.”