What can you do?

Food insecurity and people who experience it need our help. 

What can you do?

You probably know several people experiencing food insecurity although you may not be aware they are.  In schools, the quiet child who sits by themselves at lunchtime may not have lunch. The bully who steals treats from the other kids may not have had breakfast.  Even the parents of average kids may go hungry themselves so their kids can eat. 

At work, you may see people every day who miss meals.  It might be a person who always smokes, who uses the fact that smoking is an appetite suppressant, to hide the fact they are experiencing food insecurity.  It might be the new person who seems to have trouble concentrating late each day because they can’t afford breakfast.  It might be the person who always makes excuses about why they can’t go to lunch with the group because they can’t afford to buy lunch. 

In your neighborhood, it might be that older couple who just had their roof repaired and had to spend money that they didn’t have.  It might be that senior citizen who you hardly see anymore; they are embarrassed to ask for help but are struggling on a fixed income that just isn’t enough. 

You really can’t tell, but in our communities, one in five people experience some form of hunger. 

We know hunger exists in Canada, it exists in your province, it exists in your town, and it exists on most streets in your community.

Food Insecurity affects far more than just the stereotypical examples that people suspect.  Certainly, low-income people experience food insecurity, but with people spending 80 to 90% of their income on mortgages or rent, hunger exists for “middle-class people” as well.  When people learn about who is experiencing food insecurity often they are surprised to learn many times the people using meal programs and food banks have full-time jobs.

Twenty percent of people in our communities are experiencing food insecurity.  We need to do something to help. 

What can we do? 

What can you do?

Start with appreciating food insecurity is a symptom of a larger problem.  Hunger is a symptom of situational or generational poverty and one of the principal elements is the lack of affordable and safe housing.  It is easy to say that poverty is the result of “bad choices,” but nothing is ever that simple.  Take the time to learn about poverty in our county and you will learn that poverty is a collective fault and problem.  I would suggest reading “Bridges out of poverty” as a place to begin.  BRIDGES OUT OF POVERTY PDF

Appreciate that food banks and meal programs are Band-Aids.  We must continue to support the tireless work they do; however, we will still have food organizations in fifty years unless we seriously start to tackle the real causes.   

Open your eyes.  Look around, the signs of hunger are everywhere if we look.  Ending poverty begins with a realization that you know people that are suffering. 

Support your local food organizations.  Donate money, your time, extra food; everything is appreciated.  Resources, not enough volunteers, and precarious funding limit rural food organizations like food banks, meal programs, and community gardens.  Donate what you can when you can.  Most people are aware of the importance of food banks but few realize the importance of meal programs and community gardens as well.  Check out FOODBRUCEGREY.COM to learn more about the importance of all three types of food organizations

Ask your employer to set up a payroll deduction plan.  Donations to most charities are tax-deductible.  A payroll deduction plan is an excellent way to support food charities and even small regular amounts can make a huge difference. 

Buy one extra food item each time you buy groceries if you can and donate it to a food drive.  Start food drives at work.  USE 211 TO FIND INFORMATION IN YOUR COMMUNITY.   211 is the easiest way to find contacts number or email addresses for food organizations to what they need.  Most people think about food, but hygiene products and other personal items are always in high demand. 

Don’t waste food at home, at work, or in the grocery stores and restaurants, you visit.  Ask those businesses if they have a Food Rescue program.  Fifty-eight percent of all of the food in Canada is wasted, not only is that an environmental problem, but much of this wasted food could be redirected to help food organizations.  Ask about creating a donation program for food and/or hygiene products at work or in your children’s schools.

Plant a garden.  Any size will do, in pots, on your balcony, in your backyard, or as part of a community initiative.  Grow it for yourself but donate a little to others.  Look into programs like THE COMMONWEALTH INSURANCE SEEDit PROJECT as an example to get yourself or others started. 

Realize your conceptions about people experiencing poverty are likely wrong.  Seek out and listen to people with lived experiences by volunteering and by getting involved.  If you don’t know where to start, check out 211, they can point you to a place to start.  There is a misconception that people on social assistance are victims of “bad” decisions, many times if they are victims; they are victims of circumstances, not bad decisions.  We all benefit and are disadvantaged by things that we have no control over.

Volunteer.  The load for food insecurity is largely carried on the backs of volunteers and primarily senior citizens, they could use some help. 

Even once a week for a few hours can make a tremendous difference.  Interacting with other volunteers and people with real lived experiences can open insights and reveal doorways to perspectives that you may never have considered. 

Food organizations need intake people, sorters, servers, cooks, cleaners, greeters, and people who can provide a human link for someone who has “fallen through the cracks.”  You can help.  Volunteer to serve on a food organization’s board of directors, particularly if you have lived experience.

Think critically about the politicians you support.  Beware of “bootstrappy” candidates who speak of simple solutions for complex issues and preach “getting tough on crime.”  Look beyond the rhetoric and simple slogans, look for candidates who want to hear the problems, and who will talk to and involve those people experiencing the problems for solutions … “No conversations about us without us,” should be something all of us remember when trying to help those people suffering from food insecurity and other social issues.

Ask and lobby your local politicians to support living wages, the indexing of programs like Ontario Works and the Ontario Disability Support Plan to the rate of inflation

Be less judgemental.  Many middle-class people believe that “welfare fraud” is sufficient reason to “cut-off” benefits.  Instead, people and politicians should appreciate why people who have hungry children might lie to a governmental official so that their kids have clothes or food.  Take a moment and consider the alternatives before making a judgment on why someone does what they do. 

Support programs that offer choices.  Support concepts like providing food banks with grocery cards so that people experiencing food insecurity people can buy food that they or their children will like.  Consider the idea of donating gift cards for Christmas Toy Drives so parents can purchase toys their children will use.  We must overcome the fact that those parents may make choices that we don’t agree with. 

Ask your town if 24-hour bathrooms are available.  Some people experiencing food insecurity are homeless.  Everyone deserves dignity and respect.  One of the most basic fundamental human needs is lacking in many communities:  having a public washroom available at night or on weekends. 

Food insecurity is only one issue in our communities.  Learn about human trafficking, the opioid crisis and the need for the safe supply and injection sites, the need for transitional housing not shelters, needle exchange programs, and other programs to help those people who have fallen through holes in the social safety net. It is overwhelming when looking at these issues by yourself, but as a caring community the more people see, the more people can affect real solutions.

Food insecurity.  This issue does not exist in isolation, where there is one need, there is more, but each of these points will help to make a difference.

Now you know what you can do.  You can do all of these things, more, some, or only a few.  The only thing we ask, not doing any of them shouldn’t be an option.  We all benefit from our collective freedom in Canada; the cost of that freedom is the responsibility, not only for yourself but also for everyone.

Good luck and thank you,

Paul.