La Belle Provence!

While I fully suspect that I will find my journey through Quebec will expose me to breath-taking landscapes and beautiful historical villages, at this point “Le Belle Provence”, to me, is referring to the people. Jean and I were extremely fortunate to begin our tour of Quebec at the Delta Centre-Ville. We arrived at the hotel to a fantastic welcome from the eager staff and then directed towards our rooms, which happened to be on the top floor overlooking the entire city of Montreal. If that didn’t make us feel like celebrities, then being wined and dined at a very trendy restaurant in Old Montreal by the Delta Centre-Ville and Delta Montreal Leadership team members sure did. Jean and I were spoiled, and we loved every minute of it!

One of the first things that I heard about this team is that they act Straight From the Heart in everything that they do. While Jean and I experienced the spirit of this first-hand, we also witnessed it in it’s literal form. Today’s event was the start of a week-long Blood Drive in association with Hema Quebec. The hotel and the fantastic volunteers and employees of Hema Quebec established a make-shift blood-clinic in one of the hotel’s ballrooms for generous donors to give their blood. The goal was a lofty one at 50 people. While we didn’t attain this goal, we did have a fantastic 30 individuals turnout to give back! Many of these donors were hotel staff members themselves, including our generous host and hostess from the evening before Monsieur Larivee and Madame Bouchard.

What leadership!

Mid-way through the day the hotel also provided a monstrous lunch to the staff and Hema Quebec volunteers, as a thank you for the amazing work that they do every day. Now this is day 50 of my tour and I have attended many, many, many BBQ’s by this point. While they have all been great, I have NEVER seen a staff meal quite like this. There were the usual salads and hamburgers, but then there were stuffed potatoes, sauteed shrimp, vegetable skewers and so much more. Anyone who knows me at all, knows that I adore food. Thanks to this amazing job of mine, it has started to show. So my new-found friend, Marie-Josee Bouchard, accompanied me to their state-of-the-art fitness facility to work off some of the fromage et chocolate.

So much food....

After lunch, the afternoon flew by. By 3pm the Hema Quebec folks were packing up their clinic and heading off to set-up tomorrow’s clinic at the Delta Montreal. Once again in fantastic Quebec fashion, another lavish party was thrown to thank the volunteers and to bid farewell to Jean and I. While we were sad to leave, we weren’t going far, just two blocks away to the Delta Montreal.

Team members

What a fantastic start, from a team that knows no other way then to act straight from the heart. Bon travail!

Suzanne