A sexagenarian from Lanaudière who distributed meals to homeless people in downtown Joliette every day from March 2020 to December 2021 did it again for Christmas, Sunday, by giving 20 hot meals prepared by himself.

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“There is not much open for homeless people on Christmas Day and it is Christmas for them too,” explained Claude Desrochers, whom we met during his distribution at noon. downtown.

The 64-year-old man has been cooking traditional Christmas dishes for a month, including turkey, stew, meat pie and mashed potatoes with peas.

“He is very generous, it warms my heart, it can help a lot of people,” said Jocelyne Bergeron, a lady who is currently “squatting” in a burnt down house.

"It's really a small miracle to have a nice Christmas meal here," said Alain Dugas, who has been on the street since last April in Joliette.

Mr. Desrochers' coolers and boxes also included soup, cake, muffins, in addition to bread and small goody bags.

The latter was helped by the local Saint-Vincent-de-Paul Society which contributed $200, the Métro Bélair de Joliette which provided a large turkey and the Boulangerie Saint-Viateur de Joliette which donated bread and logs. of Christmas.

Start of the pandemic

Mr. Desrochers, who volunteers for Saint-Vincent-de-Paul, remembers having started everything at his own expense on March 13, 2020, the day Quebec “closed” because of the pandemic.

“It had to be done at that time, I heard that the homeless were becoming aggressive and they were afraid at the same time, said Mr. Desrochers. I told them not to worry and that I was going to feed them every day.

The Saint-Vincent-de-Paul de Joliette therefore paid his food bills, while he gave 40 meals a day.

"It cost over $6,000," said the Joliette resident who was a financial analyst during his career.