This year during Hunger Awareness Week (Sept. 21 to 25), EWCS will be joining food banks across the country by interrupting the fascination with food to instead bring focus to hunger, a very real yet solvable problem in Canada.
Hunger Awareness is an annual awareness campaign that challenges Canadians to learn more about the issue of hunger, the important work of food banks across the country and how to take action.
Canadians are obsessed with talking about the food they’re cooking and the meals they’re having. They discuss the restaurants they’re going to or want to visit with wild excitement. They photograph food and share it on social media channels. Trending hashtags like #foodie, #nomnomnom and #yummy are common in our food-crazed lives.
Yet, as the foodie movement continues to gain momentum, so too does the usage of food banks in this country, which has increased by 25 per cent over the last seven years.
Since the recession in 2008, Food Banks Canada reports nearly 850,000 Canadians – 37 per cent of which are children – turn to food banks each and every month. Close to 4 million Canadians are food insecure, struggling with not knowing where their next meal may come from.
In East Wellington, the rise in need is represented by just over 1300 visits to EWCS’ Food Banks for support, with 299 unique individuals being assisted this past fiscal year. EWCS operates two food banks, one located in Erin and the other in Rockwood.
“Hunger is an issue many people are not comfortable talking about,” said Barb Carscadden, Manager Community and Volunteer Engagement.
“We are going to interrupt the food conversation so that the voice of hunger can be considered. Let’s give hunger a chance to be heard as loudly as the foodie movement this Hunger Awareness Week.”
Residents of East Wellington are invited to participate in daily challenges which will raise the awareness of hunger in the neighbourhood. Challenges will be posted on their website and facebook page daily and are intended to interrupt the food conversation this Hunger Awareness Week.
For more information, visit www.eastwellingtoncommunityservices.com or follow EWCS on Facebook to find out more about Hunger Awareness Week and for ideas on how to raise awareness through daily challenges.
