National Hunger Awareness Day

I would write more - but I won't have a chance. Sign this quick online petition.

As most of you may know we have a conservative government in Canada now, and this of course means cuts to social spending.

From having volunteered at a food bank in the past - I could just quickly say the following:
1) All people of all ages, of all racial backgrounds go hungry daily, many of them are young children. Sometimes you'd see entire families coming into the food bank. In fact, if my memory serves me correctly 2/3 of the hungry in Canada are children.

2) Food banks are sad. When we used to sort the 'good' produce from the 'completely inedible'. Many of us middle-class kids would walk away with the heaviest heart. Because we knew what was 'good' was something we'd never have in our kitchen, something our parents wouldn't feed us. In fact, what was good produce at the food banks was often the stuff that we'd throw out in our own homes. The place where I volunteered even had rats in the produce. Food banks are underfunded places in general. In TO - there aren't many of them, the ones that exist, exist in a sad sorry state.

3) Mac n cheese - is not food, stop donating it. There's no nutrition - it's the equivalent of cardboard. Save some money to buy peanut butter and canned beans.

4) The long-term goal should not be to have more food banks - the goal should be to get rid of the need for food banks.

5) It's hard for women (I.e. this usually ends up being 'women's work') to get to the food bank. It really is, it's this trap between deciding whether you ought to use your $2.50 for the subway to get to the food bank in the dead of winter, get someone to watch the kids, or go to the foodbank - or straight up use the $2.50 to buy a carton of milk instead of getting much needed groceries from the foodbank. You're only allowed to 'take' so much food from the food bank as well. This is even tougher for new immigrant women who are rarely even familiar with the food bank or the city.

Sorry this is a little messy...

ETA: At Professor black woman's suggesetion, here is a list of most needed items. I'm guessing this is common amongst most food banks. Note: this food bank does state mac n cheese. At the foodbank I was at - this was a staple, but definitely other products were a necessity and most people tend not to donate them as much (hence my previous comments).