This past Sunday, I volunteered at The Family Store, a subsidized grocery warehouse near Hampstead. It operates twice a week, providing over 500 families with food and home essentials at a subsidized rate. Run jointly by the Chabad Chai Center and Chabad Montreal Torah Center, this vital resource is made possible through the unwavering dedication of the store’s owners, the selfless work of volunteers, and generous donations from the community. Together, these efforts ensure that families in need have access to affordable necessities and a supportive environment. My time volunteering taught me more than just the practical aspects of how the store operates; it showed me the social impact the store has on both the volunteers and those they help.
Rabbi Getzi Markowitz, the owner, explained that “staying true to [our] values, to serve their community” has been a key part of what helped the store thrive and “allowed us to make food accessible.” The store, founded in 2008, began with the simple yet powerful idea of providing essential goods to those who needed them most, regardless of their financial situation. Word of the store’s unique model spread quickly, and soon, both the customer base and the volunteer workforce began to grow.
Over the years, the store has faced numerous challenges, yet it has consistently adapted to meet the needs of the community. With an expanding customer and volunteer base, The Family Store outgrew its original location and moved to a nearby warehouse, ensuring that their ever-growing community would have the space and resources they needed. Following the pandemic, the store introduced a “digital pantry” to streamline the shopping process and ensure that clients and volunteers remained safe. COVID may have died down, but the new and improved system was there to stay. When I visited the family store, I had the opportunity to experience this streamlined system for myself.
In the warehouse each volunteer was given a phone with a barcode scanner and a list of items that each client wanted. Volunteers then went around the store collecting, scanning, and packaging each client’s orders. Once the orders were packaged, a text was sent to the client, and the packages were labeled and placed on a shelf to await the client’s pick up.
During my time volunteering, I was inspired by seeing how many people came to volunteer. It was exceptional to witness the dedication of so many individuals from the community, who committed hours of their time each week to help others. I met high school students, families and individuals from other walks of life, all looking to give back to their community. Many students, originally there to complete their required volunteer hours, chose to continue their involvement because they found it so fulfilling.
One mother whose young daughter volunteers regularly said, “volunteering is an important value ingrained in our Jewish community. It’s crucial to engage in volunteering from an early age because then the spirit of giving becomes ingrained in who they are as people.” She went on to explain that growing up with a volunteering mindset helped her children recognize their privilege and understand the importance of using it to make a positive impact.
The Family Store has become a testament to the power of volunteerism, innovation, and the spirit of tzedakah. Everyone I spoke to shared how much the store taught them and the profound impact it has on the community. As Rabbi Markowitz eloquently put it, “The world is built through kindness. We live in an age of self-actualization, but we find that the truest form of self-actualization is self-transcendence.” His words perfectly capture what makes this store so special: creating a community to support a community.
If you’re interested in getting involved, visit https://www.themtc.com/the-family-store.
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