Today on Lunch Break Look Back:
School-sponsored service activities take on a new meaning -- The young men of NDG’s Loyola High School get involved
Halloween is changing its colors -- children and their parents learn how to make costumes out of recycled materials
AND graffiti in NDG -- how business owners are tackling the issue.
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Good Afternoon. I’m Felicia Parrillo, bringing you the best fall news from the NDG-Cote-des-Neiges borough.

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Usually when the last school bell rings, kids are rushing to get home.
But not the young men of NDG’s Loyola High School. At the end of their day, they get involved in school-sponsored service activities.
The volunteering is mandatory, but you wouldn’t be able to tell from their demeanor.

Sofia Misenheimer reports.
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NDG’s Eco-Quartier is transforming Halloween from a black and orange holiday to a green one.
Every year, coordinator Nikki Schiebel organizes workshops to teach children and their parents how to make Halloween costumes out of recycled materials.
Schiebel says the children’s creativity has been the highlight of the workshops.
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Schiebel says she’s already looking for old costumes for next year’s celebrations.

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It can be a work of art or an eyesore. Graffiti is a constant presence in Montreal, and especially in NDG. Business owners are tackling the issue in many different ways.

NDG’s Éco-Quartier offers free vines for businesses in the borough. But some companies still don’t know about the project, while others, like NDG Hotdog, have decided to fight fire with fire.

The borough collaborates with artists to help businesses fund mural art as part of their prevention plan.

The free vine and the subsidized mural programs will continue to be options for businesses in NDG. Both are hallmarks of the borough’s strategy to combat illegal graffiti.

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Thousands of people marched in support of CBC and Radio-Canada. Last summer, the public broadcaster announced that it would slash 1,500 jobs over the next five years.
Organisers say 25 thousand people flooded streets across Quebec as part of a series of protests.
Sam Rancourt is at one of the protests in downtown Montreal.
Sam what is it like over there?
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The public broadcaster covered some local stories from the Côte-Des-Neiges-NDG borough. What kind of things did they cover?
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Thank you Sam.
That was Sam Rancourt, who is at the march in Montreal, where protesters gathered in support of Radio-Canada.

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You may not have noticed that the St. Joseph Oratory is in Côte-des-Neiges—
but it is.
The Côte-des-Neiges business association feels like they have been overlooked and they want to be included in the Montreal Tourism guide. They argue that they want to reap the benefits of the Oratory’s annual 2 million visitors.

Celeste Lee has the story.
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Some families with relatives buried at the Notre-Dame-des-Neiges Cemetery are being greeted with an unexpected surprise.  Signs have been plastered onto a few tombstones, stating that the contents of the plots will be removed and relocated.
For some, the signs are creating anxiety about the fate of their family members.
Olivia Ranger is here with more on the story.

Olivia, what exactly do these signs say?
The signs say that a headstone will be removed by a certain date, and provides a phone number for family members to contact. Unfortunately, that number is the main cemetery line, and the staff member identified on the sign could not be reached for comment. These signs are the only way the cemetery reaches out to family members. That means families that have moved out of the area might not know their cemetery plot is being cleared.

Why is the cemetery doing this?

There’s some speculation that the cemetery is running out of space, and needs to remove some older headstones to make room for new ones. This kind of thing has happened before. One cemetery in Gatineau began to empty old gravesites in 2007.

Is this all legal?

Completely legal. Cemetery plots are considered sacred goods in Quebec's Civil Code.
That means they cannot be sold or bought - only leased.
No lease in Quebec can be longer than 99 years, so after a century, the lease for plots has to be renewed and paid for.

Thank you Olivia.

Thank you.

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There are still some people who go to church religiously - but not for the reasons you might think. Every Friday at the Notre-Dame-de-Grâce church, a flea market provides residents with bargains on clothes, accessories and jewelry.
The flea market is building more than just a sense of community. It is also helping to rebuild the church itself.

Kate Sheridan has more.
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Running for charity is a noble cause, but doing so at the age of 78 have people turning their heads.
Carl Anderson is a longtime NDG resident and reached a personal goal when he surpassed one hundred thousand miles.
But he refuses to stop there.

Antoni Nerestant reports.
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After NDG community members called for an increase in bus frequency on the 105 route, it appears that the STM has answered the bell.

The STM announced that they will add four 105 buses to the morning rush hour between the Vendome station and Benny avenue.

They will also add thirteen buses in January 2015.

Budget cuts earlier this year reduced the number of buses on the busy route, prompting community organizers to launch an online petition.
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And today’s forecast, it’s thirteen degrees and raining here at the Loyola campus of Concordia University. You can expect cloudy skies and strong winds tomorrow, with a high of 6 degrees.

For Lunch Break Look Back, I’m Felicia Parrillo.

Thanks for watching.
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