Hunger Count 2015

Food Banks Canada recently released the 2015 Hunger Report. You can download the full report here. 

To learn more about Hunger Count 2015 and Food Banks Canada's recommendations, visit their site.

More Canadians rely on food banks than ever before. Among many other important findings, the 2015 Hunger Report notes that "In March 2015, 852,137 people received food from a food bank in Canada. More than one-third of those helped were children."

Sarnia's own Inn of the Good Shepherd is also trying to help more people than ever before: their website notes that they're helping many first-time users and trying to address a "25% increase in need." Our local food banks need our help. But as Food Banks Canada's recommendations make clear, we also need structural change so that fewer Canadians need to rely on food banks.

Visit Food Banks Canada if you'd like to learn how you can help to end hunger in Canada.

Chew on This!

Did you know that one in eight Canadian families struggle to put food on the table?

Vocalize co-founder and Lambton College student
Kari Roos hands out free apples and information.

“ChewOnThis!” events are being held today in more than 30 cities across the country, including right here at Lambton College. Volunteers are handing out brown paper bags containing an apple and information. 

"ChewOnThis!" is organized by Dignity for All, which is co-led by Canada Without Poverty (CWP) and Citizens for Public Justice (CPJ), both registered charities.

Today's "ChewOnThis!" campaign will be followed with an Anti-Poverty rally at noon on Friday, October 16 in front of Sarnia's City Hall. 

Visit www.chewonthis.ca to tell the government that you want a federal plan to end poverty.

For more information on the Dignity for All plan, visit www.dignityforall.ca/fedplan

Dignity for All: Upcoming Anti-Poverty Workshop

This past February, a group called Dignity for All released an anti-poverty plan for Canada. (Our Advisory Committee member Kelly Chappell Finch wrote a helpful blog post about the plan, which you can read here. Kelly’s post also includes a link to the pdf of the full report.)

Now we have a chance to learn more about the report and to discuss its implications for Sarnia. On Thursday, May 28, from 9-11, the local Poverty Reduction Network will be hosting a workshop at Living Hope Christian Reformed Church, located at 1281 Exmouth Street in Sarnia. Anyone who would like to learn more about poverty, both locally and nationally, is invited to attend. Participants in the workshop will become part of the discussion about the causes of poverty and the structural changes necessary to equality for all.

Attendance is free.

You may have read last month’s article in The Observer about the workshop.

If you’d like more information about the workshop, please leave a note in the comments section or email me directly: erica.kelly@lambtoncollege.ca