As turkey day soon approaches, we all tend to become a bit preoccupied with eating our first home cooked meal since August, and blocking out the annoying voice in our heads reminding us of our five midterms, four papers and endless readings all due when we return from the warm embrace of our parents and pet dog. Despite the loveliness of home cooked meals and curling up on the couch with your family beagle, the reality lays within the fact that not everyone across Canada has the ability to enjoy a big turkey dinner with their family over the holidays. In fact, a study done in 2013 claimed that 1 in 8 families in Canada struggle to put food on the table. In Ontario alone, 375,814 people were recorded having used a food bank in just the month of March last year.
Many users of local food banks are made up of every kind of family, from single parents to families where both caretakers are employed. The truth is, that while Canada is a developed G7 country, we still have neighbours who struggle to feed themselves on a daily basis. With the holidays fast approaching, and many of us juggling our schedules, we have created a list of ways you can help promote the diminishing of hunger within Canada during the holidays, while still keeping on top of your busy schedule and making all of your deadlines!
1. Second Harvest
Although it is an organization based out of Toronto, Second Harvest focuses on decreasing the numbers in the amount of food we waste on a day-to-day basis. The organization picks up excess food items, and then prepares meals with them which volunteers deliver to social service agencies across the Toronto area.
If Toronto is a bit out of your way to volunteer or donate food items, you can help by following the company’s main message of “don’t waste!” As Canadians, we waste $27 billion worth of food every year, so next time you’re doing the weekly grocery run, think “will I actually eat this pound of tomatoes?” If it is bound to rot at the back of your fridge, chances are, you don’t need it.
2. The Ottawa Food Bank
The Ottawa Food Bank is constantly holding food drives as well as events that need lots of volunteers to help prepare and serve food to the public. Instead of going out for drinks or dinner on the weekend, get a group of friends together and help feed the people in your area for an afternoon. Have some fun while receiving some great and genuine smiles. For a list of volunteer opportunities and events, check out the calendar on the Ottawa Food Bank’s website.
3. Donate to Your Local Grocery Store
If you have ever visited the Rideau St. Loblaws on a Tuesday, you may have noticed, through the sea of students lining up for their 10% discount, the donation bins at the end of the checkouts. If you have some boxes of KD, soup or canned beans on the shelf from when you did your last big Costco run, bring some with you and make a donation while you are on the search for your own grub!
4. Volunteer with the SFUO
The Student Federation at the University of Ottawa offers a Food Bank to students in the UCU basement, room 0015. Know anyone on campus in need of some extra help with getting their weekly groceries? Want to help out the SFUO in their initiative to make sure no students at the University of Ottawa have to go hungry? You can refer a friend or review the SFUO Food Bank’s webpage. Please also keep in mind that the SFUO Food Bank is run as an emergency service. With this in mind, change starts at home!
5. Cook with Friends, Share with Friends
Not going home for the holidays? Know other people on campus who will be staying in the city? Save some money, share your food, make some memories, and get together and cook a big dinner! Chances are that not only will you be able to cook a big meal, which will leave everybody full, but you will also be able to leave with some leftovers.
Remember ladies, while turkey and gravy are great, the holidays are also about reflecting on things that we are lucky to have and at times may take for granted. Even if you don’t have the time over the thanksgiving weekend, see if you can take a moment throughout the year to help feed someone in your city, or even on your own campus. We guarantee, even though it may seem as if your schedule barely leaves you room to breathe some days, that taking a moment to spread a little love will make you feel a lot better, and help end some of that midterm stress.
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