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Rookie linebacker’s struggles put highlight on Purolator Sort out Starvation recreation towards Ticats, the place followers can carry meals objects or make donations.
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The guidelines had been good, however the steak was higher. That Geoffrey Cantin-Arku didn’t need to pay for his meal made it extra worthwhile.
Alouettes linebacker Cantin-Arku was 18 when he took a part-time waiter’s job on the Charbon Steakhouse, considered the most effective spot in Quebec Metropolis for a slab of steer. He might clear $200 in recommendations on evening when the restaurant was crowded. Raised by a single mom and with three siblings at house, the cash got here in helpful. However the fringe advantages — the perk of a free dinner — couldn’t be ignored.
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The primary time he indulged, the strapping teenager ordered a 12-ounce rib-eye, medium-rare. It was accompanied by fries and shrimp. As we speak, seven years later, the reminiscence of that eating expertise resonates in his thoughts.
“It was so tender, it melted in my mouth,” Cantin-Arku, Montreal’s first-round (ninth general) draft alternative final Could, informed The Gazette this week. “I took the job largely for the cash, however in fact I loved the actual fact I might get pleasure from steak.”
Steak wasn’t ceaselessly on the menu, if in any respect, at his house in Lévis. With 4 youngsters to feed, Nancy Cantin’s struggles had been monumental. She had graduated with a level in geology from Université Laval, however her work concerned an excessive amount of journey. So she labored numerous blue-collar positions, together with driving a metropolis bus, to be at house extra ceaselessly.
William Arku, the linebacker’s father, died from tuberculosis when Cantin-Arku was just one.
“My mom by no means requested for a penny from anybody,” Cantin-Arku remembered. “She did all of it by herself. I can nonetheless see her coming house from work in the summertime; it was about 30 levels. I nonetheless bear in mind her face — purple and scorching. She had no air-conditioning in her automotive, had simply pushed an hour via visitors, needed to come house and make a meal for us. I simply noticed her consistently working.”
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Whereas Cantin-Arku by no means went hungry, he additionally remembers events when he returned from college famished, solely to search out an empty fridge. The household recurrently needed to settle for donations from meals banks or church buildings.
When he went to CEGEP Garneau, the group’s head coach, Claude Juneau, took him underneath his wing. One of many group’s sponsors was an area grocery retailer and Juneau ensured the household by no means went with out meals. Cantin-Arku recurrently skipped lunch, consuming solely two meals every day.
“It was by no means straightforward,” mentioned the 6-foot-4, 240-pounder. “My mom, if we didn’t have meals, she made positive we had one thing. We all the time discovered a approach; she made positive of that. It was by no means the costly stuff. It might be spaghetti or low-cost stuff. Generally we had nice meals, too, (when) she had cash.
“The highs had been excessive, however the lows had been low.”
The Alouettes are getting ready to host the Hamilton Tiger-Cats on Saturday at Molson Stadium and it’s the group’s annual Purolator Sort out Starvation recreation, the place followers are inspired to carry non-perishable meals objects or make money or credit-card donations for folks in want. Donations collected will help Moisson Montréal, a non-profit group that distributes 17 million kilograms of meals yearly to greater than 300 neighborhood organizations.
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Moisson Montréal receives greater than 900,000 requests for meals help every month via the group’s community — a rise of almost 185,000 month-to-month customers since 2021. Throughout this time, meals costs have elevated by 18 per cent.
The trigger is pricey to Cantin-Arku’s coronary heart and it’s why the Alouettes rookie is set to present again to the neighborhood.
Though CFL rookies aren’t extremely paid — the minimal wage is $70,000 — Cantin-Arku ceaselessly dips into his pocket when he sees an unhoused particular person requesting spare change. And he nonetheless prays recurrently earlier than meals, giving thanks. Cantin-Arku devours his meals rapidly, remembering how he and his siblings fought for scraps.
“I’m scared to at the present time I’m going to overlook meals,” he mentioned. “I get anxious. Do I’ve sufficient? How a lot do you want? I get pleasure from each meal. I similar to to eat. Each time I eat, I’m grateful.
“I assist (the unhoused) as a result of I do know God sees every little thing,” Cantin-Arku added. “In case you give with appropriate ideas, with no intention of getting one thing again, that’s when life provides you one thing again.”
Cantin-Arku performed collegiately at Syracuse College earlier than transferring to the College of Memphis, graduating with a psychology diploma. He acquired a full scholarship at each faculties, that means housing and meals had been offered. By no means once more would Cantin-Arku go hungry.
A season-ending harm sustained by linebacker Reggie Stubblefield has offered Cantin-Arku with common taking part in time, and he has risen to the problem. By eight video games he has 18 defensive tackles, two sacks, has knocked down two passes and contributed on particular groups. Cantin-Arku hits onerous, is all the time across the ball and makes performs. He has proved to be a coach’s delight and possibly will probably be Montreal’s nominee as most excellent rookie.
“He’s an enormous, athletic younger man,” linebackers coach Greg Fast mentioned. “He’s an excellent man to go to work with due to his perspective. He needs to get higher. You may coach him onerous. The more durable you coach him, the higher he responds.”
hzurkowsky@postmedia.com
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