ParcoDon is the name of the initiative launched by the City of Montreal, where around 70 retired parking meters have been recycled as standing piggy banks to collect donations to help the city’s homeless.
The project was launched in 2007 by Stationnement de Montréal—the city’s parking authority—along with the Ville-Marie borough and the L’Itinéraire newspaper. To draw further attention to the effort, its organizers this year asked local Quebec celebrities and organizations to “adopt” and personalise the parking meters with acrylic paint.
During its first three years, ParcoDon has raised some CDN 23,000 for the homeless cause. According to a report in the Montreal Gazette, organizers hope the celebrity effort will increase proceeds to CDN 40,000 over the next three years.
The video below explains the concept in more detail – and is well worth a watch! We ask ourselves whatever happened to OUR old parking meters?