Now now, what is this thing you speak of? – Hunger is an issue that may lead to homelessness, but also wider in scope. Through Food Banks Canada‘s HungerCount 2012 report, 53,512 people received food from Alberta’s food banks in the one-month survey period, 44.1% of those being under 18 years of age. Only 1.1% of those accounted for are living on the streets.
With a 59.4% increase in mind to take care of from the one-month number in 2008 here in our neck of the woods, food banks are always in need of new donations to keep up with the pace. It’s unfortunate that this comes with cutting back on allocations to each client, with 14% of food banks nationally reporting to have ran out of food at one point.
That is why this week, May 6th to 10th, is the Hunger Awareness Week, where food banks are encouraging you to stop just sitting here and gasping at the statistics and pitch in!
Awesome Campaign Stories – Notably, many politicians are participating up in Ottawa on Parliament Hill by fasting for a day on May 8th. Keep an eye on these guys and gals on this list, and of course they better redeem themselves!
Focal Local Highlight –
Shaw TV brings us an interview related to the week this year here in Calgary:
Don’t forget to check the HungerCount report for a case study on Innisfail’s situation that hits home on page 11!
What ACTIONS you may take –
- The main initiative of this awareness event is to gather more donations to help our community, so contact the Calgary Inter-Faith Food Bank locally to volunteer and donate to one of their boxes.
- Take a quiz on hunger awareness! Email postcards to friends!
- If you are a Youth Central volunteer (here comes the shameless plug), head to the database and sign up for the recurring Inter-Faith Food Bank project when it becomes available. 🙂
- Make sure you keep in touch with Inter-Faith Food Bank and Food Banks Canada‘s facebook pages! The last time I checked on Monday, Food Banks Canada had a contest for the day where for every like on this image, General Mills will two cans of green beans! I hope they continue with a similar thing.
- Tweet with the hashtag #HungerWeek. (My favourite way to take action)
You know my final word – Keep tackling hunger so it doesn’t linger. 🙂
I’ll leave you with a PSA from Food Banks Canada itself uploaded by shamisandhu:
(Click here for previous articles in this series)