This Profile of Effective Practice is one of fifteen stories examining how innovative, community-based initiatives are using comprehensive approaches to improve social and economic conditions on a local level.

The Santropol Roulant was the initiative of two young men, Chris Godsall and Keith Fitzpatrick. The two worked at the Café Santropol, on the corner of Duluth and Saint-Urban streets. In 1995, they decided to found the Santropol Roulant.

To familiarize themselves with the principles and activities of meals-on-wheels, the two examined the existing meals-on-wheels programs in Montreal. They were very surprised to learn that the great majority of persons who delivered the meals were relatively old, i.e. between 50 and 75 years. They also noted that meals-on-wheels does much more than just deliver meals: it allows the participants (clients) - largely people who live alone - to be with someone else for a moment and to thus break their daily isolation.

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