Candidates show at Generations breakfast

Shannon Rose

Thursday September 18, St. Viateur Bagel on Monkland was filled with morning diners. But none of the profits were going to the restaurant. Everyone who decided to buy their breakfast that morning between 6 and 10 was helping feed 7000 Montreal kids.

It would look like an average bustling restaurant if you didn’t notice the presence of Q92 and four federal election candidates – Irwin Cotler, Marlene Jennings, Anne Lagacé Dowson, and Claude William Genest.

Ironically, “Generations gets no government funding whatsoever,” according to co-founder Natalie Bercovici.

Every year St. Viateur hosts a breakfast where all the proceeds go to Generations. This year $15,000 was raised. The foundation has come a long way since it began in 1999. “It started in our basement where it was for two years,” recalled Adrian Bercovici. “Now we occupy a building on Notre-Dame and serve children in 75 schools and centers across the island.”

Kids receive breakfast, snacks or a hot lunch. “There are no limits,” Adrian said. Adrian and Natalie were inspired to start Generations because they have always felt that “an empty stomach can’t think – how can we expect them to meet the challenges of their day if they haven’t eaten?”

“All the evidence shows that kids who haven’t eaten properly don’t last till lunchtime,” said Anne Lagacé Dowson, NDP candidate for Westmount–Ville-Marie. “They can’t concentrate. The evidence is incontrovertible – a seemingly small thing can make an enormous difference.”

“I’m a big supporter of Generations Foundation,” said Marlene Jennings, Liberal candidate for Notre-Dame-de-Grâce–Lachine. “I thought it was important that I come and show my support.”

Staff from the Monkland RBC branch were sitting on the terrace. “Our boss told us about this cause several years ago and we love to come and show our support,” Patricia Rodriguez said. “Kids need to eat when they go to school.”

Generations runs a summer camp program for the students. “The Foundation helps send approximately 350 kids each year to summer camp,” Adrian said. “Kids go for a minimum of two weeks to two different camps where they learn various life skills. They have to make their beds, clean their area and they make friends. It’s a bridge between the end of one school year and the beginning of another.”

“We recently started a program with the Montreal Juniors [hockey] where NHL players donate money to Generations which is used to purchase tickets for Junior Hockey games,” Adrian explained.  “So far this year we’ve sent close to 350 kids to hockey games. By the end of the season, we expect several thousand kids to attend the games.”

“To help these kids we must keep them off the streets and we must definitely keep them out of metro stations, where they get into trouble with gangs,” Adrian said. “It’s all about the kids.”