Dear Editor,
In a country as affluent as Canada, hunger is unacceptable. Yet, close to 900,000 Canadians will visit a food bank for assistance this month alone. Of those, 38% are children or youth. Hunger is often a hidden issue, and we are working to change that fact with Hunger Awareness Week, which we’ve expanded from previous years’ Hunger Awareness Day. One day is simply no longer sufficient to call Canada to action on this pressing issue.
Here in Revelstoke 204 adults and 74 children turned to Community Connections Food Bank for assistance in the month of March alone!
But we can change this statistic.
During Hunger Awareness Week, May 7-11, we encourage Canadians to Give it Up for Hunger, to become more conscious of hunger and what it feels like to go without food. The goal is to have individuals Give It Up by putting food out of your reach and challenging yourself to give up your lunches or a food staple for the week.
By learning about hunger and experiencing it personally, we can all change the way we think about hunger and activate the changes needed to reduce it.
Give it up; let your friends know what you’re doing and why you’re doing it and ask them to do the same.
Give a shout; encourage your friends to donate to the food bank, share our statistics and “like the Food Banks Canada page and Community Connections page”
Give it out; donate food, funds or your time to Community Connections Food Bank.
We encourage everyone to take part, you won’t regret it!
Sincerely,
Patti Larson
Program Manager
Community Connections Food Bank
