National Hunger Awareness Week

Yesterday was the kick-off for National Hunger Awareness Week in Canada.  Canada is a very affluent country, rich in foods it produces.  Yet food insecurity is a growing concern in Canada.  The sad thing is hunger affects children the most and quite often it is hidden.   A number of charitable organizations and service clubs as well as churches are collecting donations for the food banks.  We donate on a regular basis to the food banks and I volunteer for the school's breakfast club three times a week.  This is a nutritional program that gives a child a meal, no questions asked.  The pay is amazing - a smile from a child who had at least one meal that day.  The sad reality is that meal may have to last them until the next morning because there simply is no food at home.

I cannot begin to count the number of hungry kids I have fed over my lifetime.  Anyone who knew our kids knew they could always come to our house for a meal. We've had friends that would always pop in at dinner time simply because they could not afford to feed themselves.  We always make do and know how to stretch a meal so it doesn't look like that's what we've done.   In all honesty, I would be very insulted if anyone ever left our home hungry.  I firmly believe that you can eat well and eat healthy without spending a lot of money.  Sure it might take a little work but it is worth it.  And to those who say they can't grow edible plants for whatever reason they give and believe me I have heard them all I have one word - HOGWASH!

While on the topic of hunger, food banks exist because there is a need.  There are three problems with food banks.  First there is a stigma associated using a food bank.  Some feel ashamed admitting they need a helping hand.  Second, a food bank is a helping hand not a hand up and not a way of life.  We seriously have some using the food bank for food so they can afford cigarettes and alcohol.  That's not what it is for.  As adults you make the choice where to spend your money.  I'm not really hard nosed about this though especially when kids are involved.  They can't help what their parent(s) do and can't control the money but they still need to be fed.  The third problem and biggest one with food banks is those using the services do not know what to do with the food they get.  A lot of the food is what I would consider junk food and they don't get the staples like milk, cheese, or eggs to be able to use the foods they do get.  For example a box of KD is rather useless without milk.  Compounding this problem is they don't know how to cook what they do get or they don't have the equipment to cook what they get.  While cooking dried beans from scratch is a lot cheaper it is of little use if you don't have a pot to cook them in.  I'm just saying...