A commentary by a Victoria resident.
“Please sir, I want some more.” (Charles Dickens, Oliver Twist, 1839.)
British Columbia has the strongest economy in Canada and yet has the worst child poverty rate, with one in five children living in poverty. More than 3,000 local schoolkids arrive hungry at our schools in Victoria every day, and it continues to increase every year.
The reality is devastating, leaving food-insecure children and their families unsure of where their next meal will come from. We all know that children who are hungry do not perform well in school.
It’s that time of year again, and in the past few days the media, including the Times 91原创, has been inundating us with the “need to give.”
Dave Obee announces the TC’s $1-million Christmas Fund goal, CFAX radio asks us to support Santas Anonymous, Miracle on Broad Street can’t be far away, the Salvation Army kettles are being polished and ready to go, the Sovereign Order of St. John of Jerusalem, Knights Hospitaller recently raised $110,000 and donated every cent to such local charities and organizations as the Food Inflation Relief Fund, The Soup Kitchen, Victoria Rainbow Kitchen, St. Vincent de Paul for seniors gift cards.
Rotary Victoria Harbourside recently raised $63,000 to support their school food programs in 14 local schools, Nourish Cowichan needs more support feeding breakfast and lunch to over 1,200 vulnerable students in 20 schools. In addition, Starfish Backpacks and Backpack Buddies programs provide food for kids and families every weekend.
The sad reality is, we’re not even touching the surface of the food insecurity needs in our community.
Did you know that The Soup Kitchen, which operates out of the basement of St. Andrew’s Cathedral, has been feeding our community for 40 years? They provide meals to 3,000 people — seniors, low-income workers, the unhoused and anyone living at risk — every month and they need to raise $24,000 in 40 days.
The Shelbourne Community Kitchen and the many local food banks, which started in 1981 as a temporary solution during an economic recession, operate throughout the Island, even within our colleges and universities.
Our Place, The Mustard Seed, Cool Aid Society, the Food Share Network, to name a few, all need financial support to combat food insecurity issues everywhere. What does this scenario tell us? What does it really mean? Believe it, it’s real, and not just here.
We now have a new premier, and new mayors and councillors in each municipality. Everyone is focused on affordable housing, the drug problems, the soaring cost of living, rising food prices, the unhoused.
Let’s challenge one of our newly elected representatives to step up and become a “Champion of Food Insecurity” for our beautiful Island.
Rather than every individual community trying to figure it out on their own, why not create a cost-effective way to monitor all the funds being raised through the various fundraising initiatives throughout the year, create a single organization or agency to determine how many kids, adults, seniors and families need to be provided with food and meals each day, and develop a more efficient and cost-effective plan to raise the funds, acquire all the food, and distribute it to those in need?
There has to be a better, more effective way than what we are experiencing today.
“Please, sir, I want some more.” This line is the most famous line from the novel Oliver Twist. Said by young Oliver to a church workhouse employee, Oliver is not only not given more food, but he is also treated like a dreadful sinner and criminal.
Who would have thought that more than a century after Charles Dickens wrote Oliver Twist, food insecurity for kids and families would still be with us? We can do better. It’s not just about giving.
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