Habes Jalboush, a 55-year-old computer engineer who recently lost his job, returned to the food bank at Welcome Hall Mission in the St-Henri neighbourhood for the first time in nearly four years.

“I think there’s a lot of people, they need that more than me. But right now, because I’m not working … I need to come. There is no food in the house,” he said after collecting his grocery allotment for the week.

He’s been job hunting, but says it’s been difficult because he’s “not a young guy,” which he says is not something the job market or the engineering industry is looking for. Having moved to Montreal from Jordan 18 years ago, he also says his French could be better, which adds another layer of difficulty in finding work in Quebec.

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