Ottawa Put Food in the Budget Challenge

Do the Math Challenge

Tell the Premier!

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Dear Premier McGuinty,

You propose to freeze social assistance rates in your budget.

The Ontario Disability Support Program provides just $1064 a month and Ontario Works just $599 a month – leaving many people with no money for food after paying their rent! After inflation -in the past year, food prices have gone up 4.9% and electricity 8.9%; and rents can increase 3% this year.

The freeze on social assistance rates is a cut.

This budget does nothing to close the growing gap between rich and poor. The freeze on MPP salaries is a token measure, and corporations and wealthy CEOs face no tax increase.

I support an immediate increase to put food in the budget of people on social assistance.

I support a small tax increase on people earning over $200,000 a year.

I believe public services should not be cut at a time when the rich are getting richer.

Your budget appears to abandon your commitment to reduce poverty.

Maintain your commitment to reduce poverty and increase social assistance rates immediately!

 

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CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD YOUR SURVEY LEAFLET!

TAKE THE SURVEY!

Tell the Premier!

[[posterous-content:gHBkpwhoipkFwvJdyhIt]]

 

Dear Premier McGuinty,

You propose to freeze social assistance rates in your budget.

The Ontario Disability Support Program provides just $1064 a month and Ontario Works just $599 a month – leaving many people with no money for food after paying their rent! After inflation -in the past year, food prices have gone up 4.9% and electricity 8.9%; and rents can increase 3% this year.

The freeze on social assistance rates is a cut.

This budget does nothing to close the growing gap between rich and poor. The freeze on MPP salaries is a token measure, and corporations and wealthy CEOs face no tax increase.

I support an immediate increase to put food in the budget of people on social assistance.

I support a small tax increase on people earning over $200,000 a year.

I believe public services should not be cut at a time when the rich are getting richer.

Your budget appears to abandon your commitment to reduce poverty.

Maintain your commitment to reduce poverty and increase social assistance rates immediately!

 

[[posterous-content:sxAfbxDtomehcnvBFwAG]][[posterous-content:fJJzICCmJzxstpeiopkD]]

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD YOUR SURVEY LEAFLET!

TAKE THE SURVEY!

Put Food in the Budget Challenge Video Blog


My husband and I were looking for something to do for Lent that would fit the spirit of the season: giving up something. What better thing to give up than a healthy diet for a week? We hope that adding our experience to that of many others taking the Food Challenge will bolster support for the Put Food in the Budget campaign, but at the very least we will have learned from our experience that healthy food is a basic need that no one, not even those dependent on welfare, should be deprived of. Video and commentary by Sarah Lussier Hoskyn

Posted by Erin Krekoski

Let’s talk about food access and poverty in our community.

Let’s talk about food access and poverty in our community.


Join us for an evening of short films, presentations, and discussions on the impact of poverty on food access and healthy nutrition. Presentations from Ottawa Public Health, the Social Planning Council of Ottawa and ACORN Ottawa will take place. Come to learn about the Put Food in the Budget campaign and how you can get involved in advocating for political action on the root causes of food insecurity.
Delicious snacks will be served, and lively discussion will take place – come on out!!

Where: Hintonburg Community Centre, 

1064 Wellington St. West.
When: Thursday, August 25th, 7pm-8:30pm

erin krekoski
Food for All Coordinator

Finding food on a Saturday

I learned that I might have to stand-in for my boss at a "Put Food in
the Budget" event this week. I had not tried living on a diet that a
person on social assistance might receive at the time he did, and I
had not joined in All Saints Sandy Hill Anglican Church's group
challenge either, so today was the day I chose to try the challenge -
a Saturday. What I learned is that there are no food banks open near
me on a Saturday. Maybe on Monday.

So, I found I could get lunch at the Shepherds of Good Hope. I joined
the line-up behind the building and took up the typical stance of
looking down at my feet. I felt like I was begging and I didn't want
to be. I live in the neighbourhood and yet I had never thought about
what the visitors to the Shepherd's meal program might be feeling. I
will be more aware of the ease with which I purchase bread and
vegetables in the market and the stark inequity in Lowertown.
Fortunately, one man having lunch at the Shepherds showed me where the
coffee and milk were and broke the social isolation I was
experiencing. Soon, a man named Jean Guy was telling me that I should
just focus on the positive.

The positive that I will work to focus on is that there are ways to
improve our social inequities through policy change. The support for
that policy change will come when more of us get to know our
neighbours who do not have enough money to eat apart from food banks
and shelters.

Vera Etches

3 days after Day 5 - Done with the challenge, what next?

Finished the challenge 3 days ago,  Things got really busy after that.  I was really glad to be done.  The side effects were getting increasingly debilitating.  On the plus side, I lost 11 unneeded pounds.  On the not so good side, Hannah lost 5 pounds she could't really afford to lose.  She doesn't have her mother's sturdy Chekhovian peasant build. 

I have been thinking back on the last week.  I'm taking away so many things from this experience.  The most powerful ones are healthy doses of humility and gratitude.  Regular doses of humility are good for the soul and the outlook on life.  I strongly reccommend it.  I was also lucky to be supported in this endeavour by so many people: family members, friends, colleagues from the sector, and perfect strangers.  I'm especially grateful to my fantastic daughter who completely immersed herself in this project, was a trooper throughout this whole thing and never complained once.  I cannot say that I would have done as well or behaved as graciously at her age.  This has been an incredible bonding opportunity and I am glad we had the chance to share it.  Also, a major thank you to everyone who took to speak to me about this challenge, especially Dave at St-Joe's who was more than generous with his time.

This challenge has renewed my commitment to keep working on food issues in Ottawa, both professionally and personally.  There is great need in the community for more and better solutions around the hunger problem.  This problem is not a simple one to solve by any means.  On one hand, we need to advocate loudly and repeatedly for a living wage for people.  We also need to lobby for a serious commitment from our various governments to take this issue and work towards real solutions.  This should not be considered a handout, but rather a commitment to building a healthy, productive society.  If you want people to perform and produce, try feeding them properly!!  We have at least one election coming up.  Write the candidates in your area about this issue.  Go to the debates and ask the hard questions.  Do not let them off the hook.  If they promise anything, keep at them to make sure they follow through.  If they don't, make a public stink!! 

In the mean time, people need to eat right now.  Let's figure out a way to ensure that people get access to more nutritious foods like produce, dairy and meat that doesn't come out of a can.  Let's work together to come up with community based initiatives that will help people access a more adequate diet.  Check out the websites for La tablée des chefs out of Montreal for some interesting ideas:   http://www.tableedeschefs.org/en or the Stop Community Food Centre out of Toronto: http://www.thestop.org/community-gardens. 

On a more personal note, this challenge has been a big wake up call about my own habits and my own priviledge.  I will be paying serious attention to food wastage in our home.  Too many people go hungry for us to waste food.  My family and I will also look for ways to support our local food program and the people around us.  When one is priviledged, one has a moral duty to share with those who aren't.  Hounding the politicians to do the right thing falls under those things that are pretty much a given.  As a mother of 3, I can nag at an olympic level and go on forever.

Thank you to everyone who took time to read this blog and to comment on it.  For those who haven't yet, consider taking on this challenge.  It's a huge eye opener. 

Take care,

Marie-Christine         

And so it continues...

Aside from camping trips, I’ve never felt the pressure to ration food.  Somehow this doesn’t have the same appeal…

Menu from yesterday:
- Breakfast:  Bagel with a hard boiled egg.  I’m not sure if my stomach is upset from yesterday’s food or something else, but I couldn’t eat this.  Half was eaten and the rest went in the fridge for later. Bleh.
 
- Lunch:  More mixed bean soup from yesterday, with tasty soda crackers.
 
- Dinner:  KD. Enough said.
 
Distinctly lacking all day:  fruit & veg, flavour, appetite.
Persistent all day:  thirst (salt intake?), lethargy.
 
One big challenge for me has been seeing others around me eating healthy food...  It really emphasizes the disparity among us.  
I can see how this would become very isolating very quickly.
 
Heather H

Day 4 - More of the same...

Today went pretty quickly as we got back into our usual routine of school and work.  Feeling pretty much the same as yesterday.  Digestive track is still rebelling and giving me grief.  Nausea, check.  Headache, check.  Fuzzyness, double check.  I am in a way better mood today, though.  No doubt this is due to last night's meal.  A lot less hangry (hungry + angry).  Thanks, Melanie, for adding a new word to my vocab.  It pretty much   decribed it all.  :-)

I thought I would use today's post to speak of the great work that the Ottawa Food Bank (OFB) and all the food cupboards do.  And the food programs as well.  Yeah, I know I've complained about the quality of the food.  I wasn't slagging the food banks.  The point is, food banks were never supposed to be a permanent solution.  It points a serious accusing finger at our various levels of government that food banks have not only grown, but have made lots and lots of babies everywhere.  The OFB and all the other ones out there do an amazing job with very limited resources and an army of dedicated volunteers.  There is simply not enough to go around and these people do the best they can under very challenging circumstances.  They need some core funding!!  They need government support and funding from the big funders.  They can also always use more community support.  If you go the Ottawa Food Bank site at http://www.theottawafoodbank.ca/ , there is a block that says "Need Food.  If you click on it, it will prompt you for your address.  This will tell you where your neighbourhood food cupboard is and their phone number.  Give them a call, ask them how you can help or what kind of donations they need.  Write them a check.  Drop off a bag of something nutritious.  Organize a food drive.  It doesn't need to be Live Aid to help someone out there.

However, the work being done by these lovely people is not a replacement for proper government programs.  It is a stop gap measure at best.  Picture a band aid on a great big head wound.  Our elected officials need to step up and do the right thing.  I dare them to do this challenge for 3 to 7 days and then say that the status quo is fine.  Walk in someone else's shoes for a few days and tell us if this is a free ride! 

That's it for tonight.  Off to much on some Cheerios. 

Marie-Christine 

P.S.   Oh yeah, almost forgot, anyone who donates the long expired, crappy food they wouldn't eat themselves just to clean out their cupboards or whatnot have some seriously bad karma coming to them real soon.  You know who you are!! 

Day 4 - Yuck, my skin is breaking out!!

Today was pretty much the same as yesterday.  I felt really gross.  Still having digestive problems, worse than yesterday.  The headaches are still there and so are the nausea and stomach cramps.  My skin is full of blemishes and I hate it.  My mom said I could stop yesterday, but I want to go till tomorrow night.
 
Here is what I ate today:
  • Soft boiled egg with a slices of baguette
  • leftover mac and cheese
  • 1/2 cup of cheerios
  • 4 slices of baguette
  • 2 slices of cinnamon toast (toast with margarine and cinnamon sugar from our pantry items)
  • 1/2  can beef stew
  • Lots and lots of water
It is not right for people to live like this.  Everybody should have enough money to buy healthy foods.  The government should raise social assistance rates so people can have enough to eat.  Normally, a kid my age would need to eat 7 portions of fruits and vegetables a day to be healthy.  I've only had about 1 a day.  It isn't enough for me or anybody else.
 
Peace,
 
Hannah

Day 1 in Rural Ottawa

Did the shopping Sunday based on the list provided.  The most obvious challenge is the total lack of fresh fruits or vegetables in the choices permitted.  Monday was the first day following the regime.  Everything was very bland, given the limitation of pantry items.  Another complication, since I live in a rural area and do not have potable water.  I normally have to buy my water weekly, but water was not on the list.  The problem is not bacteria, so boiling would not resolve the issue.  The only solution - an added task was to haul water from the home of a relative who has potable water.

Dianne