Thanks to your support, Plein air interculturel will turn 15 in 2025! I founded Plein air interculturel back in 2010 with the support of the Milton Park Recreation Association and the Maison de l’amitié de Montréal. Winter has always been my favourite season and I can’t wait to share my enthusiasm with newcomers to Canada! Donate by December 31, 2024 and sponsor a low-income newcomer to help them discover the joys of winter with our enthusiastic team! Your generosity will help new Montrealers settle in by introducing them to winter activities such as cross-country skiing and snowshoeing.
For many newcomers unfamiliar with our long winters, this period can be very isolating. Discovering winter sports as a group enables them to make friends, embrace winter, practice French, explore nature, learn local cultural traditions and generally feel happier and more hopeful!
Thanks to you, we’ve introduced more than 6,500 newcomers and other Montrealers to outdoor recreation since we began in 2010. In 2025 we aim to reach at least 1000 participations! To view our report from last winter, please click here.
Donate now to help a newcomer settle in and adapt through our affordable and friendly winter activities!
Here are examples of how your donation will help:
• $50 will allow a newcomer to take an introduction cross-country ski lesson in a small group with a certified instructor, gear provided.
• $100 will allow a newcomer to participate in weekly snowshoe outings throughout the winter.
• $250 will allow a newcomer to rent cross-country skis for the season, participate in weekly snowshoeing outings every week as well as 2 introduction to cross-country skiing courses.
• $500 will allow a newcomer to participate in all of our snowshoeing outings, ski rental for the season, and 7 cross-country ski lessons with a certified instructor.
• Consider setting up a monthly donation and sponsor newcomers all year long – 15$ per month to celebrate our 15th year! (any amount is most welcome!)
Our participant Li*, a newcomer from China wrote the following: “Four years ago, I immigrated to Canada alone without knowing anyone in Montreal, after 2 months was the confinement for COVID. It was a tough time for me, I felt lonely and homesick. Fortunately, the second year I found ‘Plein air interculturel’, and I started to participate in different activities they organized. I started to go out, meet new people, try skiing, camping, canoeing, and learn about different plants in the Mont Royal…. I enjoyed them so much, they are like the rays of sunshine in my life. I was even more touched by the fact that, as a new immigrant studying French full-time at that time, I was in dire financial straits, and these events offered significant price discounts to new immigrants in similar financial situations as mine. It is so heartwarming and I felt accepted and welcomed in this new country. Thank you donors, although we have never met, I would like to express my deepest gratitude and respect for your generosity, care and love, you have inspired me to pass on this love and warmth to many others. Thank you! »
Yes, I want to make a difference!
Here’s how you can support us:
• Donate
• Register for one of our activities;
• Tell your friends about our activities and share them on social media;
• Become a volunteer!
How to donate: please go to the donations page of the Maison de l’Amitié, one of the organizations that co-presents the Plein air interculturel program. In the list of funds/projects, please select Intercultural Outdoor Recreation. Let us know you’ve donated so that we can make sure your charity receipt is sent to you. Your receipt will be issued by the Maison de l’Amitié de Montréal. If we happen to exceed our goals for this winter, your donations will help low-income newcomers to participate in our outdoor activities throughout the year.
Thank you so much for supporting the Intercultural Outdoor Recreation Program, a joint initiative of the Milton Park Recreation Association and the Maison de l’amitié de Montréal (a registered charity).
Wishing you and your loved ones our warmest wishes for the holiday season,
Adrienne, Robin and Charly
Intercultural Outdoor Recreation Program
*Names have been changed.