{"id":886896,"date":"2026-01-21T20:12:39","date_gmt":"2026-01-22T02:12:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/21\/skint-montreal-to-discontinue-popular-welcome-box-for-babies\/"},"modified":"2026-01-21T20:12:39","modified_gmt":"2026-01-22T02:12:39","slug":"skint-montreal-to-discontinue-popular-welcome-box-for-babies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/21\/skint-montreal-to-discontinue-popular-welcome-box-for-babies\/","title":{"rendered":"Skint Montreal to discontinue popular &#8216;welcome box&#8217; for babies"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<section>\n<p>Article content<\/p>\n<p>The boxes were worth about $200 each, with products supplied by eight local companies. Boulanger said the products inside were \u201chigh quality, very useful. They\u2019re not simply like gifts. There are things that will be used through the years,\u201d including bibs, toothbrushes, clothes and blankets.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<section>\n<p>Article content<\/p>\n<p>Since 2024, Boulanger said about 20,000 families have received the box. The budget for the three-year contract was about $6.5 million before taxes, Boulanger said, with the goal to give away 30,000 boxes over three years.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<section>\n<p>Article content<\/p>\n<p>Boulanger believed the contract meant stability and made financial investments in the company to keep up with the demand of the project he can\u2019t get out of, like renting a warehouse, stocking up on expensive inventory that might not be used or sold, and receiving a bank loan he\u2019s worried he won\u2019t be able to pay back.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<section>\n<p>Article content<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAll the seven other suppliers are in the same (position) as we are,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<section>\n<p>Article content<\/p>\n<p>Lamarche said B\u00e9k\u00e9-bobo would lose more than $100,000 if the contract were abruptly cancelled. Lamarche said for the contract, she has already produced tens of thousands of waterproof bathtub puppets and \u201ctherapeutic bears,\u201d which are used as heating and cooling packs for infants recovering from wounds.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<section>\n<p>Article content<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<section>\n<p>Article content<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI have about 30,000\u201d of the puppets created exclusively for the welcome box, Lamarche said, and he is looking for a new contract or outlet to sell them. \u201cI have more than $68,000 invested in this product alone. So that\u2019s what hurts. I also hired people to make this product.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<section>\n<p>Article content<\/p>\n<p>She said she will inevitably have to cut staff.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<section>\n<p>Article content<\/p>\n<p>One of Boulanger\u2019s investments for Veille sur toi was material to create the blankets that were included in the box.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<section>\n<p>Article content<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNow, I have enough fabric to give a new roof to the Olympic Stadium,\u201d Boulanger said. \u201cI have three years worth of polyester now. I think given the contract, we will be repaid for that, for the raw material that we invested in. But still \u2026 we don\u2019t know what to do with that.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<section>\n<p>Article content<\/p>\n<p>While the city\u2019s decision hurts his company and was a helpful initiative for parents, Boulanger said he understands the city administration has many serious issues to tackle.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<section>\n<p>Article content<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe all agree that people sleeping in a tent at -20 C is a priority, and it should be addressed,\u201d he said, but he believes the problem lies in the administration\u2019s \u201cdisregard for the companies and the people and every human around it that counted on it.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<section>\n<p>Article content<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<section>\n<p>Article content<\/p>\n<p>The city council will formally vote on the future of the baby boxes on Jan. 26, but Boulanger said \u201cthe decision has been made.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<section>\n<p>Article content<\/p>\n<p><h3>Outcry from parents<\/h3>\n<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<section>\n<p>Article content<\/p>\n<p>On social media, parents shared their disappointment over the welcome boxes being discontinued.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<section>\n<p>Article content<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo sad to see such a wonderful project that has touched so many families in Montreal come to an end. We use everything we received with my daughter in 2024. Very disappointed, Soraya Martinez Ferrada,\u201d a user wrote on a Facebook post by B\u00e9k\u00e9-bobo.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<section>\n<p>Article content<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m stunned. We use absolutely everything we received in our box when my daughter was born this summer. What a bad decision for families, too,\u201d another user wrote on Veille sur toi\u2019s Facebook page.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<section>\n<p>Article content<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI find it regrettable to cut this budget, which was so useful to small businesses and new parents, especially those in need. It was an inclusive gift,\u201d another wrote.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<section>\n<p>Article content<\/p>\n<p>The Gazette reached out to the City of Montreal for comment, but did not get a reply in time for publication.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<section>\n<p>Article content<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<section>\n<p>Article content<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n<p> Leora Schertzer <br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/montrealgazette.com\/news\/local_politics\/skint-montreal-to-discontinue-popular-welcome-box-for-babies\" class=\"button purchase\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Article content The boxes were worth about $200 each, with products supplied by eight local companies. Boulanger said the products inside were \u201chigh quality, very useful. They\u2019re not simply like gifts. There are things that will be used through the years,\u201d including bibs, toothbrushes, clothes and blankets. Article content Since 2024, Boulanger said about 20,000<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":886897,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31276,147623],"tags":[52269,147622],"class_list":{"0":"post-886896","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-montreal","8":"category-skint","9":"tag-montreal","10":"tag-skint"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/886896","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=886896"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/886896\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/886897"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=886896"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=886896"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=886896"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}