Together, we provide a safe environment for those who need it most

Together, we provide a safe environment for those who need it most (2 min 10 s)

Added on September 22, 2015

Description

France Desjardins, Director of La Maison du Père, explains how the in-house cheque cashing service provided by the Caisse du Quartier-Latin de Montréal works to help social reintegration.

See all videos

Together, we provide a safe environment for those who need it most (2 min 10 s)

Added on September 22, 2015 | Desjardins Group

Note: The information between brackets describes the visual and audio content of the video that is not dialogue or narration.

[Text on the screen: Together, we provide a safe environment for those who need it most.]

[Ambient music]

[Text on the screen: France Desjardins, Director of La Maison du Père and the Foundation]

[Sitting in a bright room of Maison du Père, France Desjardins speaks to the camera. Wheile she is speaking, interior and exterior shots of Maison du Père show in succession: conference room, cafeteria, self-service counters with a sink, coffee machines and a microwave, the building façade with pedestrians and bicycles going by, windows, rooms with bunk beds and closets]

France Desjardins: I'm the director of La Maison du Père and its Foundation. We admit over 350 people here through emergency housing programs, but there is also room for people in the social reintegration programs. We also have a long-term residence program as well. It was important that we reinvent the social reintegration program.

About forty rooms were pretty shabby, old and outdated so we held a major campaign and Desjardins was a major participant. We were then able to create an environment that helped people reintegrate into society.

[Text on the screen: Marcel, formerly homeless and now a volunteer]

[While he is speaking, we see shots of Marcel on the street, leaning against a dresser in a room with bunk beds, walking down the hall.]

Marcel: Something happened in my life, you might say I made a bad decision, and one night, I found myself here. There were bunk beds and I climbed into the top bunk. It was fun to climb up and it reminded me of my youth. A long time ago…

[Back to France Desjardins. While she speaks, the camera pans to a pile of Desjardins Online Solutions deposit slips, then to a counter where a Desjardins employee is serving a Maison du Père guest.]

France Desjardins: When we started the discussion with the Caisse populaire du Quartier Latin, we realized that many of our clients went to the caisse on the first of the month to cash their social assistance cheques. Going outside was sometimes difficult for them, often because of the people around: drug dealers, people they owed money to… The idea was that it would be better if we had a caisse here for them on those days.

[Text on the screen: Michel formerly homeless and now a volunteer]

[Michel speaks to the camera. While is is speaking, we see a shot of him depositing a cheque at the caisse at Maison du Père, then of the employee giving him his money.]

Michel: I come to the caisse here once a month. It's more practical to come here, inside Maison du Père, I feel safer.

[Back to France Desjardns who speaks to the camera. While she is speaking, we see Marcel chopping vegetables in a kitchen. Next, we see a shot of him stuffing envelopes.]

France Desjardins: That's it, the change that the Maison was able to make over the years. Concentrating more and more on getting off the streets with the objective of always focussing on everyone who wants to get off the streets and regain their dignity, their place in the community and a job.

[Text on the screen: To the millions of Desjardins members, thank you!]

[Image on the screen: Desjardins logo desjardins.com/together]