Community Food Centres are Nex-Gen Good Banks (Joshua Ostroff)
www.huffingtonpost.ca/2017/04/13/community-food-centres-canada_n_15864140.html
While working on our group project, my group visited the campus food bank. Here we began to appreciate the growing demands on food banks in our own community and learnt that donations have mostly stagnated. This article supports these facts with references to HungerCount 2016. According to Food Banks Canada 2016 Hunger Count, food bank use in Canada has increased 28% since the 2008 recession, and a stunning 136% in Alberta! Sadly, the working poor are most affected despite one in six users having a job and with nearly three quarters of receiving government assistance. I was struck by Nick Saul's comments that "we are not going to solve the crisis around hunger with canned peas and corn."
This article connects many critical points I have learned in this course. First, the working poor are most impacted by food insecurity and how better food choices can improve nutrition levels. Secondly, it calls for action to address the foundational causes of food insecurity. Our research on universal basic income was very enlightening on this regard. It also demonstrated how to move beyond the traditional food bank and integrate community gardens, and education programs. I strongly believe that communities can be strengthened when the average person gets engaged and makes a commitment to drive change, both locally and globally.
This piece of evidence brings to light how we need to evolve our thinking to address food insecurity. Even more so, this evidence serves an important call to action to address the foundational causes of food bank usage as a critical piece to achieving global food security.
This article connects many critical points I have learned in this course. First, the working poor are most impacted by food insecurity and how better food choices can improve nutrition levels. Secondly, it calls for action to address the foundational causes of food insecurity. Our research on universal basic income was very enlightening on this regard. It also demonstrated how to move beyond the traditional food bank and integrate community gardens, and education programs. I strongly believe that communities can be strengthened when the average person gets engaged and makes a commitment to drive change, both locally and globally.
This piece of evidence brings to light how we need to evolve our thinking to address food insecurity. Even more so, this evidence serves an important call to action to address the foundational causes of food bank usage as a critical piece to achieving global food security.