I am...

Thanksgiving in Canada was in October, yesterday my friends in the US celebrated it but to me it is today. Today I am thankful to have a freezer full of food, a well stocked pantry and the ability to add a variety of veggies and items to my lunch, dinner or snacks.

I am thankful to have the means to buy fresh food and have a healthy diet and choice. I am also thankful I was able to participate in the Donated Diet to help me learn and understand. You truly can see the struggles some people go through.

I am also humbled as sometimes I have taken for granted our social safety net, assumed we will always be there to take care of those in our society who need a hand up.

I am mindful of some things that were said the other day. That all of us need to drop our bias’s we may have of why some one is using the food bank or on social assistance and offer help.
I am mindful of the cold today that may have some worried about putting the heat up a few degrees, or about where the money will come from for a winter coat or boots.

I am sorry as I have been guilty of donating close coded items to the food bank. From now on I will add in canned veggies and fruit. Even that would have been a treat!

I am respectful of those who try to be jugglers and provide for them selves and family under the difficult rules of our Social programs. Which first seems to try and rob you of your dignity and self respect.
I am confused as to why we allow something that costs the Canadian economy 72 Billion a year to continue. Governments will focus on cutting deficits but what about our people? All orders of government and all parties are responsible for not getting to work to eliminate poverty.

Finally, I am grateful to have been asked to participate. To be able to advocate on this issue and to try to work with Regional Staff and others to work for solutions.

I am grateful there are social agencies and people out there who spend everyday trying to help people.


I have always felt that the answer is not government but with all orders of government, social agencies, faith based groups and business working together.
We have work to do and need to get started…..NOW!

Who burnt the beans!

The Donated Diet Day 1
Well the day started innocently enough with instant coffee. Been a number of years since I have had instant coffee and forgot how little I enjoy it! I also had cheerio’s for breakfast. Not a big stretch as I do frequently.
I also decided if I have some of the larger items I would use what I had here and not open a box or package when I have one already open. The box I got I will give back to the food bank.
My morning seemed to be spent talking about the results of yesterdays summit and the diet. I talked to a reporter who was interested in hearing more about it.
I also dove into the box to do some menu planning. I noticed something that happens with some food that is donated. It was close coded or expired. Close coded is when the best before date is about to expire, or has expired. Caution always has to be exercised when that happens.
I opened the 3 items and found that they were indeed past. The metallic smell of the pineapple gives it away. I have a safe food handling certificate. What could have happened to someone who didn’t?
Lunch was an adventure. I opened a can of pork and beans. Added in some pepper and turned on the stove. The phone range and before I could get back to them well they were warm and a bit burnt. Keeping in mind trying to see what it was like, I knew some people may not be able to throw them out and open another can. So I ate them. With a can of tomato juice that was in the box.
Not the best meal I have had but with Rolaids it was sufficient.
I stopped this afternoon at St Albans Church in Glen Williams. They are a Tuesday drop off point for “Food for Life”. An organisation that distributes fresh food to a variety of drop off locations within Halton Region.
Walking into St Albans was truly humbling, not by the volume of food they may have given out today, but for the work they all do to assist people to get food who need it.
Today they had distributed food to 56 people when I had arrived. They were getting ready to pack up but they knew a regular had not dropped in and they did not want him to miss out. They also deliver food to people who call in.
Some of the items they had today were red and Spanish onions, peppers, romaine lettuce, ground beef, salmon, sausages and rabbit. They also had pepper squash and Anise.
Father Aaron Orear takes the initiative to find recipes for different vegetables that comes in so people who take them can cook with confidence.
I had heard one of the difficulties facing people who are on “food bank diets” is the type of food tends to be processed, high in starch, carbs, sugar and salt. Imagine if my Doctor said I had to lose weight and cut down blood pressure!
The relief I felt over seeing the meat was it opened up what dinner could be. I had a box of hamburger Helper but no meat. So I substituted ground beef I had at home, added in a pepper and onion and went to cook.
I had Hamburger helper, with onions, peppers and green beans. A snack during the evening was a orange stolen fromt eh poverty summit yesterday.
It will be interesting to step on the scale in the morning after the high fibre starch laden meals today.
So why do we figure someone who goes to a food bank is okay eating past expired food we would not?

The Donated Diet

Tonight for dinner I am having something not unusual for me. I am having a savory roasted Turkey breast with garlic mashed potatoes and gravy. Whole wheat bread and a garden fresh salad with Vidalia Dressing and grated parmesan cheese. Dessert will be apple pie with 4 yr old Cheddar cheese. Sound good? It will be…. Is it the different from what I cook at home most nights? A little bit but not that far from what I have.
I am a foodie… Self confessed person who loves to cook and enjoys the gastronomic delights a kitchen can hold. I grow my own spices in the summer along with garlic onions and tomatoes.
I used to be a Kitchen Manager for a 200 seat Fine dining restaurant, ran a pub and was the Food and Beverage Manager of a couple of golf courses.

But tonight in Halton and across our region will be people who are wondering what they are going to have. Whether they will have enough to afford both food and the hydro bill. Deciding if the few extra bucks will go to the car repair, new winter coat or for dinner.
We were asked today to think of the first thought we had that morning when the alarm went off. Was it about paying your bills, wondering where the next meal is coming from or a the need for a pair of winter boots? Probably not.
One of the items that was raised at the Halton Poverty Summit was the Donated Diet. The donated diet is designed to highlight the fact that a single person in Ontario would be required to live on $585 a month. That is after all assets and savings are exhausted.
WOW.
The idea of the Donated diet is that Community Leaders would be asked to live on 3 days worth of food that would come from a local food bank. The cost of the food would be donated so that no food is taken out of circulation or anyone needing the food would go without.
Doing the diet in Halton with me is; Gillian Tuck Kutarna is the HDSB trustee for Halton Hills and works at the legal clinic as a staff lawyer, Barbara Burton is the CEO of the United Way of Oakville, Brennan Carson is a board member of Food for Life, Dr. Bob Nosal is the Medical Officer of Health, Halton Region, Sheldon Wolfson is the Commissioner, Social and Community Services Department, Halton Region, Michael Bird is the Bishop of Niagara of the Anglican Church of Canada. Bishop Bird grew up in the Kerr St. area of Oakville and Ted Arnott, is the MPP for Wellington-Halton Hills.
It should be interesting. I immediately noticed a huge difference from what given to us. I had bread, coffee, sugar, a squash, flour and salt in my box. While others had ground beef, recipes, fresh fruit and vegetables. That is in addition to macaroni, pasta, box of cereal, pasta sauce, soup and canned fish and meat.
Some boxes looked pretty grim and empty by comparison. One I saw was so empty I was taking items out of mine and adding it to the other one. But all of us were given the addresses of where food agencies will be tomorrow for fresh fruit in our area.
As I was leaving I had someone come over and tell me that the reality would be I would look at the sandwiches and fruit left over. With that in mind I picked up 3 oranges. Dropped one into a box that was skimpy and took the other 2 home.

I will keep you posted as to what I create. My plan is to stick as close to the box as I can. If I need butter, milk or any other ingredients they will be used sparingly. My morning coffee will be from the box, instant. Spices? Not unless I have too. I know I have a lunch this week. My lunch that day will either be brown bagged or will be reminiscent of the contents in my box.

Some have suggested we do it for a month or 2 months to get the feel of it. While 3 days may seem like a small time to do it will provide a window into what some people face each day.
Stay tuned.