It’s already been more than three months since Communitas restarted its Table Talk activity since being shut down in March 2020 as a result of the Covid Pandemic. A lot has changed. Firstly we moved from our previous location in St. Henri and relocated to our new office space in the Undercroft on St. Catherine Street. The change has had its positives and negatives – we are more central in downtown Montreal – right on the McGill metro line – and our new space is larger – but without access to the outdoors – sorry smokers!
So far, it has been going very well – we have received on average 11 persons attending the lunch each Friday – with a high of 14 people, with lots of regulars and some drop-ins.
The food has been fantastic – including Torrin’s vegetarian specialty, Peter’s Chilaquille, Marlyn’s lentils and rice delight, Rosalie’s meatloaf dish and Michele’s Jamaican chicken. In addition to these gifts, we have also enjoyed pizza, lasagna, chicken pot pie, hamburgers, and it goes on. All complemented by salads, coffee and juices.
Let us not forget the delicious desserts on offer every week – again mostly brought by those arriving to share in the Table Talk – from chocolate truffles to
pies, homemade cakes, chocolate cupcakes, Italian biscuits, donuts and cinnamon buns – the array has been breathtaking. Last but by no means least are the ubiquitous potato chips of every possible flavour.
The talk in Table Talk has also been instructive. Most Fridays, we observe the usual chit-chat and catching up that people partake in as they move from table to table to chat, depending on who is sitting where and who has just come in. At other times, however, we have had occasion to have short group discussions depending on what was happening in the world – eg. The death of Queen Elizabeth; Orange Shirt Day; what it meant to us to restart Table Talk after more than two years…
As you might be able to tell, things are moving along at a nice pace – last week, another ex-prisoner dropped in, having heard we were back – and brought a friend.
We continue to slowly build this activity back up and invite anyone wishing to support its expense to donate the $40 (on average) needed to provide one weekly meal to get in touch or simply donate to Communitas via our Canada Helps donate button in the link below. You can indicate in the description that the donation is to provide one Table Talk Meal.
https://communitasmontreal.org/donate/
Your support for Communitas, whether financial or otherwise, is always welcomed.
Communitas