My name is Andre Ji'j Joseph Jean Marie Lejeune Desjardins and I want to tell you of the step- by-step way of opening a food bank on your Canadian First Nation reservation. First, let me tell you about myself. I am Metis, which means of mixed blood. I was born in the province of Quebec, Canada in the year of 1968. My ancestors were from France and the East Coast Mi'kmaq.
Wanting to learn about my ancestors culture, I took a long drive with a friend one day, a 1650km drive to be exact. My friend's mother was very sick and I had offered her a ride to see her. As it so happened, her mother lived on a Mi'kmaq First Nations reservation called Eskasoni in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. A trip that should of taken sixteen and a half hours, we made in twenty three hours driving straight through with my 91 Pontiac Firefly. This was in 2002, and since then I have made the same trip, with the same car, at least twelve times in order to visit my girlfriend's sister Mary Jane, whom I met the second day I was here in Eskasoni. Now when I go back to Quebec to visit, I take the train.
My friend who was a girl and who was also married, was not impressed with me whatsoever the first time she became aware of my sudden union with her sister. Now, she has returned to Quebec after being in Eskasoni one year after her mothers passing. I have remained here and have had two boys and a girl with Mary Jane since then.
Eskasoni is a beautiful place. We are situated on the shores of the Bras D'or Lake and on the other side, a small chain of mountains that shadow the reserve. The clouds cover the mountains when it rains, and we have thick foggy nights. However, on a clear night, you can see the Milky Way like it was poured onto the sky yesterday. We have bald eagles that fly above our heads on warm summer days and seals swimming in the lake on crisp November evenings. You can drive to the Highlands and hunt for moose. When you call them, they come up as close as twenty-five yards from where you stand, and next thing you know you are having moose steaks on the barbecue. You can also go spearing for eel or salmon in shallow twisting streams fed by the freshwater lakes. This for me, is paradise and usually only seen on television with The Nature of Things with David Suzuki. My head was pretty much in those clouds for the first three years I was here.... causing a lot of arguments with my new girlfriend.
Living on an Indian reservation is not exactly the paradise I was first experiencing and feeling in the beginning. It is like stepping in a different world altogether compared to mainstream life in Quebec. Let me just say that most people do not know about the harsh conditions and adversities that First Nation people have to deal with on a day to day bassis, because if they did, I personally think things would change dramatically for First Nations People. Am I being too naive?
I began to open my eyes to the problems that exist on this Island over the last three years by doing some marketing homework. You see, I was looking for something to do, a hobby to develop, any opportunity that I could capitalize on. Sure, I came up with big money making ideas and businesses to open on the reserve, but one thing kept popping up. There was a huge market for hunger.
We have about five thousand five hundred residents in our community and unemployment is high. So I asked my girlfriend "do you think a food bank would work here". She looked puzzled as to why I was asking her this but answered me with a "yes". You have to remember that I am an outsider here, I am not a band member or a registered Indian, I am Metis. To be accepted fully in this community will take some considerable time and effort on my behalf, and after all there might be those few that will never accept me at all. So off I went in my world of trying to figure out how I am going to get the Chief and Council to listen to my idea and let me try this food bank thing.
After a week of thinking about every angle I asked for an appointment with Father Martin our Churche's priest. I asked him what he tough of this and if it was needed. He was very encouraging and like he said it, he was one hundred percent behind me. He also mentioned that I would have to run this by the Chief and Council first. After all he pointed out, I was a guest here in this community. I then asked my neighbor Ryan about this, he works for the legal office in Eskasoni. I was kind of worried about bringing this up to him, I did not know if he would take me seriously. He thought it was a great idea and was wondering why this had not been thought of before.
That very night he called his coworker Vicky and asked her to help him write a proposal to present to the Chief and Council. I was working on mine also that night. The next day he comes over for a visit and plops a proposal on my kitchen table, "here is your proposal Andre". I just smiled and said thank you as he was telling me that he and his friend Vicky were up all night thinking and writing about this food bank thing. He said it had gotten them excited about the potential of this thing.
So now I had two proposals, this was more than I had ever anticipated because now I had the feedback of actual lifelong residents of this community to work with as well. I took both presentations and kept all of the best ideas presented to make one. It took a while before the Chief and Council invited me to a meeting with them but by then I had not stopped working on the project.
I had spent half of a day at the Sydney Mines food bank with Peter, he had invited me after asking him for help just to learn the ins and outs of the food banking industry, and let me tell you that I walked out of there with no more questions to ask. I had found out during that morning that there was an organization in Nova Scotia called Feed Nova Scotia, and when becoming a member they would send a truck with an order of food to supply my food bank. I started the process of becoming a member and that took about four months before our first truck of food arrived at our location.
I gathered a board of five members, you only need five to register. We worked on our by-laws, which state what we want to achieve in the future of our Society, Society meaning non-profit and volunteer based. After our meeting with the Chief and Council it was agreed that we could use the old community hall for our food bank. In the future I would like to see a soup kitchen added on to our operation. It would get really interesting if the hunters would get involved for that venture. Nothing like a little wild game in your broth. As far as government grants for those types of businesses for aboriginals did not apply because it is a non-profit venture, maybe next budget.
The first load we received we had to deliver, we had not had our meeting with the Chief and Council yet, and our previous location had fallen through. We distributed one hundred bags of fifty pound potato that we delivered with my friend Albert's pickup truck. I was lucky that day, we had arranged with our local supermarket to use their loading dock and to store the potatoes for one day or two. After that day I had the reserve talking about what we had done and the Chief and Council were aware of how serious about this we really were. I had also did a name search in town to register our company under the Society act of Nova Scotia, that is when The Eskasoni Charity Society was born.
We went from one end of the reserve to the other following a list of families in need that we had compiled earlier that month during a registration campaign. I sent a flier out to everyones post box with one of our cell phone numbers on it, telling people that we are opening soon. The idea was to get the people to register with us for the Feed Nova Scotia agency and at the same time collect the data needed to establish need. It was a very effective way and it did not cost that much when you consider the outcome. It costs 10 cents per flyer and Canada post delivers them for you no matter if you have a postal counter on your reserve or not. We had eight hundred post boxes delivered to and we registered three hundred and forty eight the first weekend. Well worth it!
We set up a simple filling system, on the headers are the names of our streets and when you open the folder we put the customers address number in big letters at the top of each page. This way when our customers come in our food bank at the reception area we ask them for their street and number and that is basically it, we look through the pages and find their file with the date of their last visit. There is some paperwork and tracking sheets to fill out for Feed Nova Scotia. They use the information for statistical reports and such. We get a monthly report from them with our mistakes on forms that have to be corrected or if there is an overuse with a customer. It is a very handy tool to have.
I am very thankful to Feed Nova Scotia for accepting Eskasoni in their membership and to the Chief and Council for they do not charge us rent fees or utilities for the use of the old community hall, we also have a phone at our disposal. This was in July two thousand and seven we are now in July two thousand and eight on our second year of operation and we are serving four hundred and fifty to five hundred and fifty people monthly on a once per month basis with one thousand one hundred and fourteen customers from three hundred and thirty eight families on our list. All of this with Mary Jane and a handful of volunteers which by the way are the back bone of my operation.
I advertise through our local television station for free thanks to Gem at the Sarah Denny cultural center and in the Maritime Merchant, this also for no cost. Feed Nova Scotia sends us rations for three hundred and twenty seven and we do local food drives with our local church, schools and supermarkets for the rest. I even keep a stash in my basement in case of emergency deliveries. Oh yes, people do call you at home but so far nobody has called us at an insane hour, so I do not mind bringing my work at home in this case.
It took about eight months to get the whole thing going, but if your community is in need it is worth the effort. There are twelve other Mi'kmaw reserves in Nova Scotia and two of them are already interested in what I am doing. Hopefully there will be a food bank in all twelve of them by the year two thousand fourteen.
The next step I would like to achieve is to have charity organization status with the Canadian Federal income tax department, this allows you to solicit funds and to be able to send a tax deductible receipt back to the donor. You have to be registered first for that, so that step will be never lost for us as a Society. In short if you want to open a food bank on your reserve, you will have to work at it constantly until it opens and then work some more to make sure it runs properly. Mostly you must win your community's support because after all they are the ones you will be working for.
I want to share with you a flashback of my first day with the potatoes. We where about half way done delivering the potatoes, by then my feet where starting to hurt when we came across a family of twelve on our list, so two adults and ten young children. I gave them one hundred pounds of potatoes, two bags. At first they where not too sure who I was and why I was giving them potatoes. What struck me hard was the fact that I was just dropping off potatoes on their doorstep and the children got so excited. I mean this is not candy, toys or Macdonalds we are talking about right, these are just potatoes! As I left the house towards the truck I hear a little voice behind me, "hey mister potato man" I turned around and saw a little man standing in front of me with a huge smile on his face, maybe six of age, and he says softly to me, "thank you". That family has a new member now, they are thirteen in that house.
Operating a food bank is not always pleasant and I do not expect to solve all of the hunger issues in my community. We have to deal with a lot of different people. Most of them are very thankful for our service but there will always be that certain few that will never be satisfied with what they receive. Most will be very nice to you and some just plain rude. Whenever these unpleasant moments arise and make me question what I am doing in this food bank I think of that young boy I helped. Those moments are the true payoff for this type of business.
I hope I have shed some useful light on the subject of opening your own food bank in your local First Nation reservation. If there are any questions regarding this subject you can e-mail me at (eskasoni_charity_society@hotmail.com).
P.S If you like my idea and would like to show support for our cause please click on my Google add on the top left of this page, all proceeds will go towards the food bank and it's operational costs. Thank you very much for your support......
Wanting to learn about my ancestors culture, I took a long drive with a friend one day, a 1650km drive to be exact. My friend's mother was very sick and I had offered her a ride to see her. As it so happened, her mother lived on a Mi'kmaq First Nations reservation called Eskasoni in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. A trip that should of taken sixteen and a half hours, we made in twenty three hours driving straight through with my 91 Pontiac Firefly. This was in 2002, and since then I have made the same trip, with the same car, at least twelve times in order to visit my girlfriend's sister Mary Jane, whom I met the second day I was here in Eskasoni. Now when I go back to Quebec to visit, I take the train.
My friend who was a girl and who was also married, was not impressed with me whatsoever the first time she became aware of my sudden union with her sister. Now, she has returned to Quebec after being in Eskasoni one year after her mothers passing. I have remained here and have had two boys and a girl with Mary Jane since then.
Eskasoni is a beautiful place. We are situated on the shores of the Bras D'or Lake and on the other side, a small chain of mountains that shadow the reserve. The clouds cover the mountains when it rains, and we have thick foggy nights. However, on a clear night, you can see the Milky Way like it was poured onto the sky yesterday. We have bald eagles that fly above our heads on warm summer days and seals swimming in the lake on crisp November evenings. You can drive to the Highlands and hunt for moose. When you call them, they come up as close as twenty-five yards from where you stand, and next thing you know you are having moose steaks on the barbecue. You can also go spearing for eel or salmon in shallow twisting streams fed by the freshwater lakes. This for me, is paradise and usually only seen on television with The Nature of Things with David Suzuki. My head was pretty much in those clouds for the first three years I was here.... causing a lot of arguments with my new girlfriend.
Living on an Indian reservation is not exactly the paradise I was first experiencing and feeling in the beginning. It is like stepping in a different world altogether compared to mainstream life in Quebec. Let me just say that most people do not know about the harsh conditions and adversities that First Nation people have to deal with on a day to day bassis, because if they did, I personally think things would change dramatically for First Nations People. Am I being too naive?
I began to open my eyes to the problems that exist on this Island over the last three years by doing some marketing homework. You see, I was looking for something to do, a hobby to develop, any opportunity that I could capitalize on. Sure, I came up with big money making ideas and businesses to open on the reserve, but one thing kept popping up. There was a huge market for hunger.
We have about five thousand five hundred residents in our community and unemployment is high. So I asked my girlfriend "do you think a food bank would work here". She looked puzzled as to why I was asking her this but answered me with a "yes". You have to remember that I am an outsider here, I am not a band member or a registered Indian, I am Metis. To be accepted fully in this community will take some considerable time and effort on my behalf, and after all there might be those few that will never accept me at all. So off I went in my world of trying to figure out how I am going to get the Chief and Council to listen to my idea and let me try this food bank thing.
After a week of thinking about every angle I asked for an appointment with Father Martin our Churche's priest. I asked him what he tough of this and if it was needed. He was very encouraging and like he said it, he was one hundred percent behind me. He also mentioned that I would have to run this by the Chief and Council first. After all he pointed out, I was a guest here in this community. I then asked my neighbor Ryan about this, he works for the legal office in Eskasoni. I was kind of worried about bringing this up to him, I did not know if he would take me seriously. He thought it was a great idea and was wondering why this had not been thought of before.
That very night he called his coworker Vicky and asked her to help him write a proposal to present to the Chief and Council. I was working on mine also that night. The next day he comes over for a visit and plops a proposal on my kitchen table, "here is your proposal Andre". I just smiled and said thank you as he was telling me that he and his friend Vicky were up all night thinking and writing about this food bank thing. He said it had gotten them excited about the potential of this thing.
So now I had two proposals, this was more than I had ever anticipated because now I had the feedback of actual lifelong residents of this community to work with as well. I took both presentations and kept all of the best ideas presented to make one. It took a while before the Chief and Council invited me to a meeting with them but by then I had not stopped working on the project.
I had spent half of a day at the Sydney Mines food bank with Peter, he had invited me after asking him for help just to learn the ins and outs of the food banking industry, and let me tell you that I walked out of there with no more questions to ask. I had found out during that morning that there was an organization in Nova Scotia called Feed Nova Scotia, and when becoming a member they would send a truck with an order of food to supply my food bank. I started the process of becoming a member and that took about four months before our first truck of food arrived at our location.
I gathered a board of five members, you only need five to register. We worked on our by-laws, which state what we want to achieve in the future of our Society, Society meaning non-profit and volunteer based. After our meeting with the Chief and Council it was agreed that we could use the old community hall for our food bank. In the future I would like to see a soup kitchen added on to our operation. It would get really interesting if the hunters would get involved for that venture. Nothing like a little wild game in your broth. As far as government grants for those types of businesses for aboriginals did not apply because it is a non-profit venture, maybe next budget.
The first load we received we had to deliver, we had not had our meeting with the Chief and Council yet, and our previous location had fallen through. We distributed one hundred bags of fifty pound potato that we delivered with my friend Albert's pickup truck. I was lucky that day, we had arranged with our local supermarket to use their loading dock and to store the potatoes for one day or two. After that day I had the reserve talking about what we had done and the Chief and Council were aware of how serious about this we really were. I had also did a name search in town to register our company under the Society act of Nova Scotia, that is when The Eskasoni Charity Society was born.
We went from one end of the reserve to the other following a list of families in need that we had compiled earlier that month during a registration campaign. I sent a flier out to everyones post box with one of our cell phone numbers on it, telling people that we are opening soon. The idea was to get the people to register with us for the Feed Nova Scotia agency and at the same time collect the data needed to establish need. It was a very effective way and it did not cost that much when you consider the outcome. It costs 10 cents per flyer and Canada post delivers them for you no matter if you have a postal counter on your reserve or not. We had eight hundred post boxes delivered to and we registered three hundred and forty eight the first weekend. Well worth it!
We set up a simple filling system, on the headers are the names of our streets and when you open the folder we put the customers address number in big letters at the top of each page. This way when our customers come in our food bank at the reception area we ask them for their street and number and that is basically it, we look through the pages and find their file with the date of their last visit. There is some paperwork and tracking sheets to fill out for Feed Nova Scotia. They use the information for statistical reports and such. We get a monthly report from them with our mistakes on forms that have to be corrected or if there is an overuse with a customer. It is a very handy tool to have.
I am very thankful to Feed Nova Scotia for accepting Eskasoni in their membership and to the Chief and Council for they do not charge us rent fees or utilities for the use of the old community hall, we also have a phone at our disposal. This was in July two thousand and seven we are now in July two thousand and eight on our second year of operation and we are serving four hundred and fifty to five hundred and fifty people monthly on a once per month basis with one thousand one hundred and fourteen customers from three hundred and thirty eight families on our list. All of this with Mary Jane and a handful of volunteers which by the way are the back bone of my operation.
I advertise through our local television station for free thanks to Gem at the Sarah Denny cultural center and in the Maritime Merchant, this also for no cost. Feed Nova Scotia sends us rations for three hundred and twenty seven and we do local food drives with our local church, schools and supermarkets for the rest. I even keep a stash in my basement in case of emergency deliveries. Oh yes, people do call you at home but so far nobody has called us at an insane hour, so I do not mind bringing my work at home in this case.
It took about eight months to get the whole thing going, but if your community is in need it is worth the effort. There are twelve other Mi'kmaw reserves in Nova Scotia and two of them are already interested in what I am doing. Hopefully there will be a food bank in all twelve of them by the year two thousand fourteen.
The next step I would like to achieve is to have charity organization status with the Canadian Federal income tax department, this allows you to solicit funds and to be able to send a tax deductible receipt back to the donor. You have to be registered first for that, so that step will be never lost for us as a Society. In short if you want to open a food bank on your reserve, you will have to work at it constantly until it opens and then work some more to make sure it runs properly. Mostly you must win your community's support because after all they are the ones you will be working for.
I want to share with you a flashback of my first day with the potatoes. We where about half way done delivering the potatoes, by then my feet where starting to hurt when we came across a family of twelve on our list, so two adults and ten young children. I gave them one hundred pounds of potatoes, two bags. At first they where not too sure who I was and why I was giving them potatoes. What struck me hard was the fact that I was just dropping off potatoes on their doorstep and the children got so excited. I mean this is not candy, toys or Macdonalds we are talking about right, these are just potatoes! As I left the house towards the truck I hear a little voice behind me, "hey mister potato man" I turned around and saw a little man standing in front of me with a huge smile on his face, maybe six of age, and he says softly to me, "thank you". That family has a new member now, they are thirteen in that house.
Operating a food bank is not always pleasant and I do not expect to solve all of the hunger issues in my community. We have to deal with a lot of different people. Most of them are very thankful for our service but there will always be that certain few that will never be satisfied with what they receive. Most will be very nice to you and some just plain rude. Whenever these unpleasant moments arise and make me question what I am doing in this food bank I think of that young boy I helped. Those moments are the true payoff for this type of business.
I hope I have shed some useful light on the subject of opening your own food bank in your local First Nation reservation. If there are any questions regarding this subject you can e-mail me at (eskasoni_charity_society@hotmail.com).
P.S If you like my idea and would like to show support for our cause please click on my Google add on the top left of this page, all proceeds will go towards the food bank and it's operational costs. Thank you very much for your support......
