Roses help brighten day for flood-weary moms
Terrasse-Vaudreuil council, volunteers deliver hot meals to grateful residents
For more than a week, Christine Tanzer has been one of 90 flood victims who has received homecooked meals prepared by fellow residents in Terrasse-Vaudreuil.
On most days, the mayor, town councillors and volunteers had to don hip-waders and walk through several feet of water to deliver hot meals to weary residents who have been pumping water from their basements.
On Sunday morning, councillor Jean-Pierre Brazeau had something extra special when he delivered breakfast to Tanzer and her neighbours — a beautiful yellow and red rose to mark Mother’s Day.
“It’s awesome, I was blown away,” Tanzer said of the special delivery. “The town has been amazing. They have come by to check on us and give us moral support.” About 90 roses were delivered on Sunday.
Brazeau said some of the mothers were in tears when they received their rose along with their breakfast — an omelette, potatoes and a fresh fruit salad. “They were very grateful,” said Brazeau, a councillor in the town on Île-Perrot, just west of Montreal Island. “They said they have never been taken care of so well.”
Shortly after flood water filled homes, volunteers came to the town’s community centre to prepare hot meals for residents so they could concentrate on saving their houses, Mayor Michel Bourdeau said on Sunday.
Some were retired seniors, but other volunteers took time off work and one was a teacher whose school in Pierrefonds was closed.
Volunteers served 400 to 600 meals a day to residents in their homes or at the town’s community centre.
Local residents came by with fresh fruit and vegetables and a butcher in St-Sauveur donated meat, Bourdeau said.
When Bourdeau and other elected officials arrived with roses on Sunday, many residents were stunned. “They said: ‘You have thought of everything,’ ” the mayor said.
The preparation of meals ended on Sunday after the town of decided not to renew its state of emergency.
Tanzer said she stopped by the community centre for breakfast several times last week and was able to eat bagels and bacon and eggs.
“You don’t feel so alienated,” she said of the prepared meals and of the Mother’s Day rose. “I am a mother of a little puppy and it’s a huge morale booster.”