Roger Varley has been in the news business almost 40 years with The Canadian Press/Broadcast News, Uxbnridge Times-Journal, Richmond Hill Liberal and Uxbridge Cosmos. Co-winner with two others of CCNA national feature writing award. In Scout movement over 30 years, almost 25 as a leader. Took Uxbridge youths to World Jamboree in Holland. Involved in community theatre for 20 years as actor, director, playwright, stage manager etc. Born in England, came to Canada at 16, lived most of life north and east of Toronto with a five-year period in B.C.
Food for thought
“Hunger is not debatable.” - Harry Hopkins, adviser to FDR
At a recent Uxbridge Bruins home game, the Loaves and Fishes Food Bank set up a table to accept donations. I was going to drop a few bucks into the pot, but when the first intermission rolled around, they were gone. I will be stopping by St. Andrews-Chalmers Church in the next few days to get my modest contribution to them.
It bothers me, however, that it is necessary for me to do that. It bothers me no end that so many of our neighbours are in such dire straits that they need to visit a food bank to put meals on the table.
As you read this column, think back to the last meal you had. Or think ahead to the next meal you're going to have. Did you, or will you, have a problem with it, other than deciding which of several choices to opt for?
For most of us, the hardest thing about putting a meal on the table is opening the refrigerator door. For others, there's little point: there's nothing in there.
And the numbers are growing. A report put out this week by Food Banks Canada said almost 868,000 people used food banks across Canada in March. That's the highest number since they started keeping figures in 1997! And the saddest part of it is, about 38 per cent of those depending on food banks are children.
Want to know what's even worse? Fully 35 per cent of the nation's food banks have run out of food at one time or another during this past year.
We all know we're going through rough economic times and we all know there are parts of the world where millions are actually starving to death. I'm saddened by that, too. But in a country with the wealth and resources that Canada has, can there be any excuse for any of our citizens going hungry?
Many of those using the food banks actually have jobs, but they don't earn enough to cover shelter, clothing and food. That's because so many people these days are forced to work in low-paying so-called service jobs or retail jobs, since much of Canada's manufacturing sector jobs have disappeared overseas.
I know there are all kinds of complicated issues involved: trade treaties, globalization, tax issues and the like. But when you get right down to it, nothing should stand in the way of a community, a province or a nation feeding its hungry, its most vulnerable. And that includes governments that could care less.
First the federal government: It now costs an incredible $10 million a year to run Prime Minister Stephen Harper's office. They've got to be kidding me! On top of that is the obscene $1 billion spent on last summer's G8 and G20 conferences. While our government was handing out $100 ballpoint pens to delegates, Canadians were visiting the food bank.
Durham Regional government: Just about every household in the region received a new, larger blue box this fall. You didn't have to ask for it; it just showed up on your front doorstep. Yet the region ran large colour advertisements in every newspaper in the region for weeks on end to tell us they were coming! And how to use them! I'd like to know how many tens of thousands of dollars were spent on that useless campaign, money which could have been used to either reduce the regional tax levy or provide some support for food banks close to home.
Uxbridge council: Council recently voted in favour of putting out tenders to install surveillance cameras in Elgin Park to combat vandalism. How many thousands of dollars will that cost? I suppose while they are watching the monitors for a few miscreants, they don't have to watch the ever-growing number of people going to the food bank at St. Andrews-Chalmers.
It seems to me they should be more concerned about the needs of their residents than a couple of cinder-block buildings. And it also seems to me that we should be telling them so.
Tell me, am I wrong?
