Monday, May 14, 2012

This is just the beginning....

Thanks again goes to our 10 participants of our Food Box Challenge. As readers, we all appreciate their honesty and candidness of what they experienced over the week.

As we now work on our plans to expand the food support program within our community, please remember to contact Kim at kderi@css4u.org or call 905-584-2300 x202 to find out how you can get involved. Stay tuned! 

Karen Hutchinson – Caledon Countryside Alliance and Eat Local Caledon

Final Thoughts:


My final thoughts coming out of the week were mostly humble.  I did only do this for not quite five days and I choose foods I like when I could.  If I were to do it day in and day out, I am not sure how I would survive – I do know I would need all my best cooking, growing and food buying skills.  I have always respected food and I have a new respect for those who don’t have enough food.

I know there is enough food in the world to go around, it just isn’t fairly distributed.  I know according to Statistics Canada that 38 percent of food goes to waste from field to fork (Take a Bite out of Climate Change – www.eatlocalcaledon.org).  I know that we have hungry people, high rates of childhood obesity and diabetes and a farm income crisis.  It is a complex issue that crosses so many borders.  There are lots of local and Ontario individuals, groups, organizations and businesses working to make changes. 

There are many answers and here are some of the ones I know:

Eating local is one - see www.eatlocalcaledon.org for local producers, events, workshops, school programs and much more.
Community farms for community gardens and community supported agriculture – see Albion Hills Community Farm (www.albionhillscommunityfarm.org) for more information.  Also see Whole Village in Alton (http://www.wholevillage.org/), Everdale in Erin (www.everdale.org) and others in Headwaters.

Community kitchens like the Palgrave Community Kitchen (http://palgravekitchen.homestead.com/), for workshops, fun food events, summer camps and kitchen rentals.

Local Farmers markets opening soon – June 2 in Bolton (http://www.caledon.ca/farmersmarket/) , June 20 in Inglewood (http://www.eatlocalcaledon.org/farmers_market.htm) and  other markets in Orangeville, Brampton, Georgetown and other communities.

Farm open to the public in Peel and Farmers’ Markets -see Grown in Peel (www.GrownInPeel.ca) and farms, markets, retailers and restaurants in Dufferin - see Dufferin Farm Fresh (www.dufferinfarmfresh.com)

HAYville – a free youth food and farming entrepreneurship and skills building program for 12 to 19 year olds in Caledon and area (http://www.eatlocalcaledon.org/HAYville.htm).

Have your say on these issues by commenting on how you see the food system can change through the Ontario Food and Nutrition Strategy Consultation @ Sustain Ontario http://sustainontario.com/initiatives/ontario-food-and-nutrition-strategy/comment-page-1#comment-57033

Finally, I want to thank Caledon Community Food Services for taking on this massive project to build not only awareness, but a Community Food Centre for all of the community.  At Eat Local Caledon, we look forward to working with them on the local food piece as we continue to grow our efforts with community programming and developing a local food distribution system for our Region. 

Karen Hutchinson, Food Box Challenge Participant

Friday May 11:


I like to think Friday was my best day for local food in the last few hours of the hunger awareness campaign – other than my morning coffee!

I started the day with K2 milled local oatmeal.  I tried a few type of oatmeal this week, but by far my favourite was K2 from Tottenham – just north-east of Caledon.  The oats were interesting and it was almost like it was a multi-grain texture.  They didn’t go mushy and they had incredible flavor.  Best of all, I knew they were local – grown and milled close to home by a true local food advocate and third generation miller Mark Hayho.  See www.eatlocalcaledon.org for contact information.

For lunch, just before we met at Caledon Community Services, I had my brunch.  I had just received a newsletter from Kitchen Gardeners International and one of the posts was titled, “Dandelion Salads:  For those who like to Eat on the Wild Side” by Barbara Damorsch (http://kgi.org/blog/barbara-damrosch/dandelion-salads-those-who-eat-wild-side), a gardening and culinary expert in her own right, but also Eliot Coleman’s partner.  He is America’s most famous four-season farmer.

So I had fresh wild harvested dandelion greens with a soft cooked egg on top.  It was an amazing finish to the week for a local foodie, but also something accessible to most.

Karen Hutchinson, Food Box Challenge Participant

Wednesday May 9 and Thursday May 10th:


Wednesday and Thursday meals both started off the same with oatmeal and the berry mixture.  From there again there was a combination of apples, cucumber, pita, eggs and mixed vegetables. 
On Wednesday I cooked the beans I bought.  That brings up an interesting discussion point on value, nutrition and cooking.  I happen to like chick peas or garbanzo beans as they are also known.   I like then plain, in mixed salads with cucumber, in soups and stews.  They also form the base of one of my favourite foods – hummus.

Beans are a great way to add protein to things if you like them, but they can be a hard sell to kids and also sometimes to adults.  We really need to do some recipe work to figure out how to make them more appealing.  Best of all, most beans or lentils can be grown in Ontario.

The next logical question is – dry beans versus canned beans.  The canned beans are dead simple and quick.  I know I ate my first round of the chick peas with just some canola oil and cider vinegar on them because I was hungry.  If I had limited food, I would probably look to the canned first.  But the dried are better value, higher yield and they don’t have all the preservation additives and/or salt.

To prepare the dried beans, you need to follow a two-step process of soaking and then cooking.  For soaking, you can soak overnight or boil for 2 minutes and let them stand in cooking water for an hour.  For cooking, you need to simmer them for 1 ½ to 2 hours.  It is not a quick meal if you are hungry and need to eat in a hurry.  But, you will yield 2 ½ to 3 times as many cooked beans as dried beans.  So for $1.29, I got 900 grams of dried beans or approximately 2250 grams of cooked beans – enough for my two can ration equivalent, two batches of humus and 2 sandwich bags full of beans for the freezer.  That is great value and a nutritious protein.

On Thursday, I made two types of hummus – regular and local.  I made regular humus for my family with chick peas, oil, tahini (sesame seed paste) and garlic.  For my local humus, I was missing two key ingredients – tahini and garlic.  I made a trip out to grocery stores to see if I could find some local nuts or nut butter with no luck.  I did learn from Soup Girl (Inglewood Farmers’ Market), who is also an expert in hummus and I work with, and that you can use any kind of nut butter in hummus.  The best I could do was some wild foraged walnuts that I had bought at a farmers’ market.  I figured I could trade those for something on my rations I wasn’t eating.  Then for garlic, soup girl suggested garlic mustard.  It is an invasive species that grows locally.  The hummus wasn’t bad, but I needed to find a better solution for the local butter.

As for garlic mustard, it performed really well and added garlic and mustard flavours to the humus by adding the leaves of the plants.  To learn more about garlic mustard, you can attend the first ever Garlic Mustard Festival in Belfountain on Sunday May 27, 2012.  Go to www.eatlocalcaledon.org for more details.

Finally Thursday night, my kids and I had pasta and the canned tomato sauce.  I had my regular pasta ration and the kids had spaghetti.  The sauce was not bad – it was thick and filling, although I don’t usually like food thickened with corn starch.  I was quicker than how I usually make my own sauce from scratch starting with tomatoes.  The on-going dilemma presents itself again – quick, cheap and easy versus fresh, tasty and healthier.  When you are hungry, it is harder to cook and think about food choices and creative recipes.  We need to deal with hungry and healthy issues first, but right behind are local food and food literacy.

Friday, May 11, 2012

Kim D'Eri, Manager of Poverty Reduction Partnerships

Thank you to the ten participants and their families for bringing awareness to hunger in Caledon. 

Bill asked the question, "What next?"

Well, we are now working on our plans to expand the food support program within our community; addressing some of the challenges identified this week.  This will only be successful with the combined efforts of the entire community.  We need everyone's continued attention and help, going forward. 

Please remember to contact me at kderi@css4u.org or call 905-584-2300 x202 to find out how you can get involved and stay tuned ....  This is just the beginning.

Thank you.

Jeff Rollings, Food Box Challenge Participant  

Day 5  Piggy

 
Well, here we are. The week has passed and we’re still standing.
 
Last night brought us an illustration of something that must be all too common in food bank households. I was passing through the kitchen. There on the counter lay the last remnants of the little hunk of cheese we had for the week. It’s our big treat and we’ve been behaving like it was gold, savouring tiny pieces.
 Without thinking, I popped the remainder into my mouth and it was gone.
 
Upon discovering this, Brandy was less than pleased. She expressed her displeasure verbally, then followed up with an email, waiting in my inbox this morning. Here’s what it said: “Jeff is a piggy. He ate all the cheese when he knew it was all we had left. $%!)head.”
 
A minor event, from which we will recover, but it made me think about how much tension there must be within families when there isn’t enough food, how easily a seemingly little thing like that can set of a Lord-of-the-Flies like devolution.

Today the Food Box Challenge participants met for a wrap-up lunch. It was all delicious, but I noticed that the thing I went for first wasn’t the cookies or the sandwiches. It was the raw vegetables. Even if my mind hasn’t been especially missing them, apparently my stomach was.

Also on the fresh and green front, my Food Box Challenge colleague Karen Hutchinson arrived with a gift for me: a baggie filled with freshly picked and washed dandelion leaves. I ate them. After my complaining earlier in the week that I wasn’t ready to go there, now I must also eat those words – dandelions are actually pretty good. (The secret, she tells me, is to pick from plants that have grown in the shade).
 
My main feeling at the end of this experience is guilt. Now I’ll go back to my wanton grazing, while actual food bank clients will face another week of the same, and another after that. Still, I do think my attitude has shifted. I don’t think I’ve ever really thought much about food before, other than how it tastes. As Brandy put it, we’ve both arrived at “a more visceral, tummy-rumbling empathy.”

Bill Rea - Food Box Challenge Participant

Well, I got through the week, not much the worse for wear and with a greater appreciation of what some people have to go through.

I think to many of us, the view of hunger we get originates from films shot elsewhere in the world, with the likes of Sally Struthers doing the commentary. They make valid points, to be sure, but overlook the fact the problem is also close to home, if not at home.

As I predicted yesterday, I have food left over. Several cans have not yet been opened, and Beth delivered them this morning to the food bank. The big reason there was food left over is because I think the ration was slated to last me seven days, but it only had to go four and a half.

With the exception of the headache I had Tuesday, I think there were no ill-effects from the experience, and I probably could have avoided that problem had I put a bit more thought into my planning. If the crummy set of bathroom scales we have can be believed, I lost two pounds on the process.

There were two feelings running through me through most of the days.

One was temptation. I am used to trotting a couple of hundred feet down the street to the variety store for some junk food when I’m feeling peckish, and that happens a couple of times a day. Also at lunch, there are at least four establishments within walking distance of my office where I can go to take out something. I had to resist all of them. That’s one of the reasons why I had such a surplus in my pocket money at the end of the week. With the exception of the daily newspapers I buy every day, there wasn’t a lot to spend it on.

And that ties into the other feeling I had; namely guilt.

No matter what kind of exercise I was involved in, I knew going in and throughout the week that I was doing it of my own free will. I had money in my wallet and could have gone out and bought just about anything I wanted to eat. It was just a stubborn resolve that kept me from doing it.

Such is not the case for people who have to use food banks for real. They don’t go out and spend the money because they simply because they haven’t got it.

I am not a wealthy man, but I am not poor either. I never have been. Like many households, my wife and I have the financial resources to meet our needs and answer some of our wants (if we were able to answer all of our wants, we’d probably just come up with a list of more elaborate wants). Thus I don’t really know what it’s like to be poor, or to be in a position that I can’t afford to feed myself without help.

I think I have developed a greater appreciation of what it must be like, and that’s been enhanced by conversations I’ve had with various people about what’s been going on during the week. The subject came up a lot when I was on assignment (probably helped by the fact I wore the red t-shirt every day).

But it’s still just an appreciation. I still don’t know what it’s really like. I think there’s only one way to find out, and I’m not anxious to go there.

If the object of the exercise was to spread awareness, then it was obviously a success.

Okay, more people know there’s a problem. What next?

Matthew Strader, Food Box Challenge Participant

Day five, lesson five

My last lesson is simple, it’s day five, and I get to finish my challenge.
I’m going to eat at my favourite restaurant, and I know myself. I will feel guilt with every bite.
It didn’t hurt, it was only five days, and I have no lasting physical effects from a week off of nutrition.
But thankfully, I have some emotional ones. And I hope they never go away.
The week taught me the isolation. And everybody in my circle knew my week was fake.
We live in a world in which we are measured by our material gains, there is no denying that. And the sad part is, most of us are guilty of measuring ourselves more than being measured by others.
It’s the girl trying to be the girl in the magazine syndrome. It’s unattainable, and yet we strive. And even if we don’t have, we use judgement to make ourselves feel higher.
We try to be something we’re not, and we feel a sense of loss when we don’t reach those goals.
Being without choice, and without variety, has shown me that not getting lunch at my favourite restaurant, only drinking water, and watching others eat, does isolate you. People stare. They ask you why you’re doing it. You become the square peg, who can’t fit in the round hole.
It is a behaviour we have not evolved past yet. 
We judge.
The raw and unrelenting truth of this week. I felt stupid.
And I don’t want anyone to feel stupid.
I don’t care anymore what the reasons are that someone would have to feel the way I did. Addiction, lack of education, emotional loss, mental health, or simply circumstance – I don’t care.
I get to finish. My five days are up.
Some don’t.
That is stupid.
The final lesson is I will do my best not to forget that it isn’t fair to have to feel this way. It isn’t fair to have to feel like a loser.
There is always reason, but I won’t ask anymore.
I will just try to help. Maybe that in itself is selfish because it will allow me to feel buoyed by what I will do – and defend the fact that I get to choose – but in the end, if someone like Anne gets to eat a real salad instead of a fake one she has to create out of what she has…if she can choose to eat crap, just like the rest of us do when we choose to be lazy…if she can choose, and not feel stupid, then ok.
Maybe I’ve learned my lesson…


Karen Hutchinson – Caledon Countryside Alliance and Eat Local Caledon

Sharing her experience from earlier in the week.

 Monday and Tuesday’s meals can be summarized as oatmeal, pita, vegetables, apples and eggs.  Both mornings I had oatmeal with cranberries/blueberries, maple syrup and milk for breakfast with a combination of vegetables, eggs, pita for lunch and dinner.    Monday I was hungry when we got home from the Week launch and then dropping off a rototiller at the community farm, so I just had oatmeal again for lunch.  Then  two eggs, pita and frozen vegetables for dinner and a couple of apples in between.  Tuesday I had half a can of beets, a bowl of the frozen mixed vegetables, which have both green and yellow beans as my pre-dinner and then plain pasta with some canola oil as my dinner.   Oh and by the way, I made regular dinner for my family both nights – with no tasting!

I also had coffee with lots of milk on both days – coffee is my specialty item and I do recognize it wouldn’t normally be in the budget.  I have also padded my diet with some of my favourite foods – apples (and by the way the discount apples have been perfect), cucumbers, eggs, pita, and oatmeal.

Then I was off with my son to a book launch downtown at the King Edward Hotel.  Normally, I would have enjoyed the wonderful food floating around the room.  As a foodie, it was hard, but I was okay with it.  It struck me that if I truly had limited food resources; I probably would have eaten about three days’ worth of food at the event.  I did make a mistake – I had sparkling water with lime – 2 glasses.  I should have had the still water and no lime to be true to the campaign.  Normally I would have had the wine!!

We really don’t know what a privileged society we live in with is so much abundance around us, but for some it really isn’t accessible and for the rest of us, we take it for granted.  Food is a right and we need to honour that more often than not.


Father Larry, Food Box Challenge Participant

Friday, 11 May 2012


Day 5:  What I have realized this week is that     Hunger is not a Game!

Because of the Food Box Challenge - I heard this week about a single parent (a regular food bank client) who keeps empty boxes (like granola bars) in the cupboards at home so that if someone comes by and happens to look in them, it doesn't look like the shelves are bare. This father does the same thing in the fridge with expired condiments ... How we have all been schooled in the game of keeping up appearances ...

Thursday night we had another confirmation retreat. I was thinking - I won't bring a peanut butter sandwich (I don't want to be eating alone again) so I'll bring my rice and chicken salad. Guess what I forgot to pack??? So there I was - nothing to eat - and then I remembered the 2nd meat pie I had cooked earlier this week (You remember the one - with 42% of my daily saturated fat allowance!)... so I heated it up in the Microwave. The young people at my table thought the pie looked tasty! But they still ate their pizza!

While I have been able to get by this week, a number of my normal routines have changed:
  • I did not eat Pizza with the young people, preparing for Confirmation while they were on retreat;
  • I did not go out to any restaurants;
  • I did not participate in the Tim Horton's Coffee Pool at the office;
  • I did not use any drive-thru places, even for a snack or bagel;
  • Sometimes I ate late, because I forgot to pack my meal;
All in all - I am aware of how nutritionally poor a Food Box diet is, and how easily I snack on all kinds of things at all kinds of times!

I pray that we as a community will have the courage to commit to a food security program that will allow for fresh vegetables and fruit for those in need. Eating Peanut Butter sandwiches (even alone) is not a game!

Anne, current client of the Food Support Program

Friday, May 10, 2012-Final Thoughts…

“Necessity is the Mother of Invention”

It has been so encouraging reading the experiences of the various participants in this challenge. 

Can you imagine to do this week in and week out for an extended period of time and with children?

It was especially nice for Matthew to comment on my blog contribution and recognize the issues that surround those of us that DEPEND on the food bank for sustenance. It feels great to have someone listen and understand the challenges facing those that are attempting to overcome the obstacles in their lives; whatever they might be and doing it with something like food security hanging over your head at every turn. For many of us, we are alone in this battle and do not want to constantly dwell on the fact that we are unable to properly feed ourselves. Your sense of self-worth is diminished and like one of the participants expressed, there truly is a sense of social isolation.  Really, in this day and age and in this seemingly wealthy community, who would think that there are families that don’t have enough to eat?! I would love to go grocery shopping one day when I don’t have to “stick” to my $35.00 for the MONTH (which includes items such as toilet paper, laundry detergent, toiletries, and other non-edible yet expensive and necessary purchases)…what a treat it would be to purchase whatever I needed! Stocking up on pantry items is a struggle but it also provides some of those options for creating a meal that is both enjoyable and nutritious.

We are inundated with ads for Swiss Chalet, McDonald’s, Pizza etc. on a daily basis…I hate to admit it, but, since I am unable to afford the luxury of indulging even periodically, I have a strange craving for these items.  It’s gotten to the point that I have “re-created” these treats at home (sometimes it’s even better than the “real” thing!). I recently volunteered to be an extra in a TV show shoot locally because they were going to feed us…it is strange how being hungry can motivate you to do something that you would otherwise not do.

You know, I don’t want to wax poetic but, I am unable to get my hair done anywhere except in my own home (I’m not bad at it either!) or take a vacation or go for a drive in the country or visit friends that live out of town or a multitude of other activities that once I too used to take for granted yet I am thankful for my home and relative health and caring people that I come into contact with. I want to be able to give back in some small way…whatever that might be.

This certainly has been an exercise for all of us to learn from; I know I have! It’s a vicious circle that begins with taking care of yourself from a nutritional and emotional standpoint to be able to take care of your other needs in life such as job security and family.

I wish all of you the best going forward and hope that this project has changed lives in our community for the better.

Cheers!


Marco Cesarone, Food Box Challenge Participant

Day 4 -  Thursday May 10th

I can see the light............one more sleep !!

So the headache continues, the body can sense the anticipation, and my craving for fresh fruit and vegetables is getting stronger by the minute.

The wrap session is indeed tomorrow (Friday May 11th ) at noon.  I must say, this has been quite an experience.  It has provided me with a wealth of knowledge and a better understanding of what some people go through in their everyday lives.

As a store manager of our local Zehrs store, I now have the opportunity to directly speak and hopefully influence close to 300 people.  These colleagues working in the store actively participate in three main food drives a year, and not only work together to collect food, but also have consistently achieved one of the highest cash donation amounts in our district.   The most recent ended a few weeks ago with a total collection of $1,643.00.   There is great potential here, and the experience this week has made it clearer to me that we can still do more.  The POWER of people working together as ONE, all for the same purpose, and striving to achieve the same goal.

I would like to personally thank Caledon Community Services and specifically Kim D'Eri for giving me the opportunity to participate in this event.  My commitment is to continue to be a true partner in the community, and ensure that all 300 of us at Zehrs play an active role in making the lives of many people, better each and everyday !

Richard Paterak, Food Box Challenge Participant

It is the end of day four and I have a confession.  Last night was the Credit Valley Conservation Gala and fundraiser.  I had purchased tickets long before I was tapped for the food box challenge.  So I attended and went off the box program and on to a banquet meal.  I had a three course dinner consisting of salad, a small portion of gnocchi and a main course of a sliver of broiled salmon, a small piece of beef, potatoes, and some mixed steamed vegetables.  I skipped dessert.  Guilt, not really, because I was fulfilling a previous commitment, but I do want to let you know that I did go off the program.  Today it was back to the dietary grindstone: Coffee, peanut butter sandwich for lunch amidst a sea of Regional Councillors eating a very nice meal of chicken parmesan, mixed veggies and a tossed salad followed by a dessert.  Councillor Thompson was with me and he stayed the course with a bagged lunch.  This evening, I ate the postponed tuna surprise----pasta, tuna, and some undiluted cream of mushroom soup stirred in.  I ate my third banana for dessert. Ostensibly, tomorrow is the last day of this trial by carton, but since I broke stride on Wednesday, I am thinking I should carry on through Saturday.

I have not experienced any discomfort beyond that which might occur when one is eating regularly but abstaining from snacks.  I bought no snack materials, peanut butter and saltines and I have barely touched the saltines.  Earlier folks were debating which loaf of bread to buy, which had more slices.  My approach is which weighs more.  I purchased a multigrain bread, which when used for a peanut butter sandwich is a meal in itself.  Keeping the nutrition high and the chemical content low I purchased not just regular peanut butter, but the Loblaws brand of “just peanuts”---no additives, no substitution of the peanut oil with palm oil----unadulterated peanuts that are ground up, what a concept.

Tomorrow I have lots of eggs, another banana, leftover tuna surprise and lots more I have barely touched.  It will be over and I will reflect upon my increased consciousness about food, nutrition, and the how we relate to eating.  Do we live to eat or eat to live?  Does the tempo of our lives, and the satisfaction owe get  from our chosen work satisfy us and thereby blunt our dietary cravings?  Do we feel fulfilled in how we are spending our lives?  Are we loved?  Do we love?  Do we live ourselves?  I think all of these can help or hurt us when we are subsisting on less.  And let’s face it, someone who is stressed by their inability to enjoy the dignity of getting through the day without the charity of others must be affected on other levels.  It must enter into their mental outlook towards food, especially if that someone is a breadwinner who is not winning any bread.

I do feel blessed and the food box challenge has underscored that for me.  Last week I was busy raising funds for Bethell Hospice and doing my councillor work.  This week it has been council work with a backdrop of food scarcity and reflection on what that means to me and others.  Next week it should be back to normal, but I am chairman of this year’s Caledon Council Community Golf Tournament and that begins to occupy more time.  This year the Tournament is raising funds for Caledon Community Service’s new Recipe for Resiliency program which deals with the whole issue of food and nutrition.  Monday morning, first thing, I will be meeting with a major corporation to see if they will become a sponsor for the tournament.  Later in the week I will be seeking other sponsors and sending out a mass email to Caledon residents asking them to consider being part of our tournament and being part of the beginning of Recipe for Resiliency.  Folks can play golf, sponsor or if they just want to donate they can be “virtual golfers” and get a tax receipt. Email me at richard.paterak@caledon.ca<mailto:richard.paterak@caledon.ca> and I will send you a complete info package.  If you have followed the food box challenge, you should be motivated to learn more about Recipe for Resiliency and perhaps help Caledon Council raise funds for this worthy cause.

Thursday, May 10, 2012

Father Larry, Food Box Challenge Participant

Day 4 - Carbs, Carbs and more Carbs

Greetings All!  I took a nap today!  After a busy morning in the parish with Students from one of our Elementary Schools (its Catholic Education Week!) and a "Carb" rich lunch - I had a nap. 

I heard I was short with people this morning before Mass. 
 
Tortellini soup and
Fish Sandwich
I was having a bit of a headache, and I thought - I have some time - so I took it.

Here is the only picture I have of Fr. Damian's Lunch! Ummm looks good... 
 
Meanwhile I had Tomato Soup (with some of the Rice and KD Noodles) and a "Tuna Casserole" (which was KD Noodles, some of the Cheese sauce pack and my can of Tuna).
Did I tell you that I don't like Tomato soup? I like creamy soups. 
KD & Tuna Casserole
Did I tell you I didn't choose milk, as a purchase or a pantry item? That meant the KD was made with water and oil, not milk and  margarine/butter! It was OK - But again - its the repetitive nature of all this that I am very aware of.... Carbs, Carbs, and more Carbs.  They are filling - but not always healthy.  I am craving veggies - and looking forward to the meal tomorrow that will include some real veggies...


What I was really aware of yesterday, as I was caught in the rain (I have been trying to use my car less) was that I am still going about my life in all kinds of ordinary ways.  In a sense this food box challenge has really only been done as a segmented part of my life. In all other respects I am going about things normally.  I went to the bank and bought foreign currency as a gift for my Dad who is going to Ireland in 2 weeks, I paid my weekly tax on the poor (Lottery Tickets) and went to the Barber. Then I went to the drug store (not the dollar store) for a card for dad, and picked up one of my prescriptions and I only had to pay $3.00 of the $95 cost because of my drug plan. If I was a regular client at the food bank - would I be doing all that?
 
Would I have waited another few weeks for my hair cut? Or would I get someone else to play barber with a clipper from the store?
 
I certainly wouldn't spend $4.95 on a birthday card!
 
Again and again I realize how blessed I am.

Matthew Strader, Food Box Challenge Participant

Day Four, Lesson Four

Empty.
That's all I've got to describe how I feel.
Physically, mentally, and emotionally.
Sure, I've had a headache for a couple days, and I haven't gone for a run all week because I feel fatigued, but it's been a week. Outside of cravings and frustrations - feelings that have served to show me just how unaware I am of what difficult is - it hasn't been physical torture.
 I haven't been able to sleep well, and that is draining me. I think the lack of sleep is what is growing this mental fatigue I can't seem to get over. Simple words are suddenly difficult to think of. I want to fall asleep, but my mind is anxious and doesn't let me. I equate it to a 'too much coffee cram session' during my university days. You're spent, but something else is keeps you up. Frustration grows and you're all around uncomfortable.
But more than that...I feel empty.
My legs feel useless, my veins feel like they're pumping simple water around my organs and nothing is getting what it needs.
(I'd sacrifice a chicken on an altar to the Gods right now for a glass of milk...
Who craves a glass of milk?)
 And I can't understand how I live in a world that will allow people to live like this, and I hope I can be an agent of change.
I'm not going to turn into a philosophical nitwit and stand on the mountains wrapped in canvas and hemp while I decry everything that is material in society.
I live in a market system, and I will try to get ahead.
I'm not going to act like some don't deserve what they have, and their circumstances.
I went to university for eight years, I suffered for two degrees, and I have a daughter and a wife (my girls) who I want nothing but the best for.
I've sacrificed a lot that I could have given them because of my morals. I sometimes get crap for it, but it's the one thing, maybe it's my spirituality? (I'm not a church goer) that has always made me feel like a good person.
A literary agent, about 10 years ago, told me if I would sacrifice what I like to write for a pseudonym and harlequin romances (guess I'm good at the tear jerkers) I'd be on my way. I said no.
There's a lot you can do in journalism, even in small towns, that you can do to jump ahead, instead of climbing the stairs like everyone else.
But I won't. It allows me to keep my chin up, and as a good friend who shares (and participates heartily) in the burger joint debates with me has said - if you believe in it, keep your head down, and keep working.
So I do.
It's always made me feel good - like maybe I'm a contributing member of society. I haven't stepped on any toes, I haven't told any lies, and I haven't become something that isn't me for anyone or anything.
But is that all I could do?
Lesson four it seems, is another no. That isn't all.
Lesson four is the line, and I think I might have to redraw it.
What is enough? Where do I draw my line?
I look at my car, a little black hatchback, and I've always thought it was a piece of, well...
But is it? No. It's not. It works, and I don't have to worry about it working. It isn't empty.
I want to be a clothes junkie. I don't care what people say. I want to have a giant closet filled with suits and I'd wear one everyday, 'cause man I love suits.
I own three, and now I wonder if I need all three? My closet isn't empty.
Did I need to buy the best laptop I could afford, or should I have gone a little cheaper, and done something else with the money?
I don't want to wax philosophical because I am a realist, and I'm not going to set goals that will just make me a liar in the future.
But what I am going to do is think now. What I am going to do is occasionally sacrifice what I can.
My favourite quote is one from Albert Einstein. "Try not to become a man of success, but rather to become a man of value."
I thought my line was in the right place.
Lesson four is to always remember those who feel this emptiness everyday, and maybe redraw that line...
Even if just a little bit.


Bill Rea, Food Box Challenge Participant


As of 3 p.m. Thursday:

Regarding the question I left you all hanging with at the end of my last offering, namely “What’s for dinner?” the answer was pasta.

My wife Beth has been sharing parts of this ordeal with me, so we bought double the allotment of pasta. She prepared half of it for dinner last night, and it nicely filled two plates. Truth be told, I was just about full by the time I finished.

So far today, I’ve had two pieces of toast (one for breakfast and one for lunch), a small handful of crackers and a coffee. The supply of rations is holding out.

I was talking to one of my fellow participants this morning, and he expects he’s easily going to have food left over. I’m in the same spot. I haven’t touched my corn yet, or my can of meat or soup, and Beth is obligingly eating lentils for me. I’ve only had one egg so far, although Beth indicated to me that an omelet and my allotment of rice might be on the dinner menu for tonight. I think I’m looking forward to it.

Part of the problem, which probably led to my difficulties earlier in the week, is I am at heart a hoarder. Heading into this, I thought it important to make sure I didn’t run out of food. So I was cautious in the early going. I think the record shows I was too cautious, and that probably explains the headache problems I had Tuesday afternoon. Being a rookie, I hadn’t yet learned to pace myself.

The question is, “Could you survive of $8 and a box of food for a week?”

It’s becoming clear to me that the answer is yes, with a certain amount of thought and planning. The problem is there is not a lot of variety. There’s very little meat. True, I was able to secure a supply of eggs and cheese, two items of which I am very fond, but that was about it as far as “treats” were concerned.

We all have to eat to survive, but we were give taste buds for a reasons, and they have to be indulged to some extent. I’m finding there’s not a lot of room for that.

Putting it another way, I can live on this diet, but I’m not having a lot of fun.

And I am very mindful of the fact that I only have to live with it for a couple of days.

Whoever came up with the expression “Man does not live by bread alone” certainly knew something.

Jeff Rollings, Food Bank Challenge Participant

Day 4  Perspective


Last night Brandy and I stretched the food bank diet envelope a bit. We had a guest for supper.

Not just any guest either. Sharon Gaskell is the founder and unpaid, hands-on director of the non-profit Starthrower Foundation. She's also one of the most extraordinary people I've ever known.

Starthrower sponsors and assists teens and young adults to get an education in some of the poorest corners of Haiti. Sharon spends most of the year there, coming home to Orangeville for only a few weeks each spring and fall.

Our dinner wasn’t fancy: $1.90 worth of chicken pieces, a can of mushroom soup for sauce, some brown rice and a can of peas. Total cost for three meals: less than four dollars. By Sharon’s standards, though, it was a minor feast. She describes her Haitian diet like this: “Will dinner tonight be rice and beans, or beans and rice?”

Even at that, at least Sharon isn’t worried about where her next meal is coming from, unlike those around her. Starthrower operates a food distribution program for its students, doling out enough rice and beans for an individual for two days. Frequently, that small portion gets taken home and shared with the family. “Sometimes, up to ten or fifteen people eat from that,” she says. “In Canada we think it’s awful if someone only eats once or twice a day. In Haiti it’s common for people to only be eating once or twice a week.”

The starkness of that reality sinks even deeper when she adds “People in Canada don’t understand the difference between relative poverty and absolute poverty. In Haiti there are no food banks. There is no safety net.”

The thing that stays with me is, it’s not a competition. Hunger is an insidious disease inflicting humanity. It’s no better or worse, be it in Caledon East or Port-au-Prince. The difference is, in Canada we have the means and the ability to do something about it. We need only ask: do we have the will?

Sharon’s operation in Haiti offers another lesson. Quite literally come hell or high water, every morning her kids get up, dust themselves off and go to school. Despite the crushing circumstances, they do that because it provides the most important thing of all: hope. If only I could donate that in a can, banked and ready when one of my neighbours needs it. 

There are the fortunate, the less fortunate and the least fortunate. Today, I’ve never been more aware of which category I’m in.
This comic depiction of Starthrower's purpose in Haiti holds a powerful message for us here at home too.

Allan Thompson, Food Box Challenge Participant

A Wife's View: Words from Anne Thompson


As the personal chef for Councillor Allan Thompson during this weeks exercise (and for that matter, every other week for the last 22 years), Im wading into the blog to share our familys experiences.

Every project starts somewhere, and for me, my participation with my husband in the CCS Hunger Awareness Week began with the simple and casual question from fellow participant, Karen Hutchinson, at the recent Cheltenham United Church Beef Supper last Saturday night.

"Are you participating as a family in the food challenge next week?" she asked.

No, I simply told her, not entirely sure what she was even talking about, so it obviously meant we werent.

It was that slow, cautious but knowing glance she gave me in return that told me maybe I needed to find out a bit more about what Allan had got himself into.

As it was, grocery shopping was next on our to do list for that evening and while enroute to the grocery story, Allan filled me in on the project requirements. 

At first blush his project seemed simple enough. Pick up the required staples on the list, he told me. Easy enough. But it was when we came to the part about the limit of five pantry items and the $8 expenditures that the councillor and I locked horns. He wanted to come home armed with all his food, as he needed it for a photo shoot on Monday. I told him that with a limit on the pantry items, it would require very careful planning to get him through the week and I would kind of need to figure it out. I'm good, but not that good, and I needed more time than the 45 minutes or so we were in the store. We compromised. He came home, arms laden with his requisite canned and boxed goods, and a few, strategic well-placed purchases.

Once home, we came to some family agreements on the project. The rule in this house has always been that what is on the table is the meal. Once past the nursing and baby food stage, there were no special meals made for the children when they were young; instead they were taught to help with the meals and eat what we eat, and as a result, both our children enjoy to cook and have developed a love of food with very sophisticated and adventuresome palettes. We did not feel the rules should change for this week, nor would it be fair for their dad to eat his project allowance while the rest of us enjoyed our regular supper.

Again, while Allan was the participant, if the project is about creating awareness it would be best if we all participated. In my mind, I wanted to hold us true to the staples on the list, but with more bodies involved, I also figured it would allow us more flexibility, as some of the participants who have doubled up with their spouse have also noted.

While wanting to respect the project, we needed to be realistic and so we established our house rules for the project:
·     As the councillor, Allan already had other commitments on his calendar for the week (i.e., Wednesday morning: Mayors Breakfast, Wednesday evening: a fundraising gala for the Credit Valley Foundation) and so for these events he would go "off program for those occasions--justification being that he is participating in this program for the week to support the CCSs cause, whereas Wednesday evening is a moment in time in support another worthwhile cause. It seemed fair, but we agreed we would add a meal onto either end of the project timeline to compensate for any off program meals.
·     My immediate concern when I saw the list was for nutritional balance, and so while we agreed that our teenage children would participate in the family meals and share in leftovers for school lunches, etc., as is our usual practice) we would continue to ensure they had their required nutritional needs.
·     As the cook, I would do my best to stay on program, but it might need some tweaking along the way and I didn't want to hold myself ahead of time to any commitment of what our pantry items or the $8 expenditures might be. It also raises the question: if one person is allowed $8, is a family of four allowed $32 and more pantry items? Rather than arbitrarily multiplying all the quantities by four, my goal is to limit my use of the pantry items and the other food options, to only what is reasonable enough for me to put a balanced meal in front of my family. For me, it would be a work in progress, adjusting and tweaking as I go along.

But by doing so, I needed to have a clear picture of how we were tracking, and so I developed this chart below. Items under the “Food Item” list are the foods taken directly off the list given to the participants; “Pantry Items” are those items already in my cupboard that did not need to be re-stocked with this last grocery shop; “$ Options” are the purchases we made this week; “Other” were items that were either in my freezer, or extra purchases, included here for tracking purposes to see how much “over” the list we needed to go to feed our family of four.

Day

Menu
List Food
$ Options
Pantry
Other
Sunday
Supper
* Lentil salad
* Salmon
* Asparagus
* Lentils
* Spinach
* Carrots
* Garlic
* Asparagus

* Raisins
* Canola oil
* Soy sauce packets
* Ginger
* Pepper
* Salmon (prior on-sale purchase, in the freezer)
* 1 cup cheese
Monday
Breakfast
* Egg salad sandwich

* Bread
* Eggs
*Mayonnaise


Lunch
* Lentil salad





Supper
* Potato salad
* Bean salad
* Baked chicken

* Kidney beans
* Chick peas
* Green beans
* Yellow beans

* Potatoes (6)
* Red pepper
* Cherry tomatoes

* Chicken thighs (value-savings pack)
Tuesday
Breakfast
* Boiled egg





Lunch
* Bean salad





Supper
* Salmon loaf
* Potato salad
* Bean salad
* Cherry tomatoes
* Canned salmon

* Bread
* Green onion
* Milk
* Eggs
* Butter
* Salt
* Pepper

Wednesday
Breakfast
Cup of coffee





Lunch
* Salmon loaf
* Bean salad





Supper
Off program




Thursday
Breakfast
Boiled egg





Lunch
* Salmon loaf
* Bean salad
* Carrot





Notes:
·         Items appearing in italics denote menu items that re-appeared as leftovers

For the bean salad, we used Allan’s allowance of one can of beans and one can of vegetables, doubling the cans to stretch and serve our family of four. I should note that bean salad is a favourite in this house anyway (well, for everyone that is but Allan). It is flavourful, healthy, full of fibre, and from a cook’s perspective, is one of those great go-to-dishes to have in the refrigerator because it keeps well and goes a long way. You can see how with just a few pantry items, this dish made several repeat appearances on the family’s weekly menu. (And while not included on the chart, I should note it was included as lunch for each the children and I on Tuesday, and by Thursday morning, there is still enough left for my lunch today.) The only downside my daughter noted with this project is that with her father now sharing in the bean salad this particular week, there hasn’t been as much to go around for the rest of us.

Organizers, and indeed some of the other participants, may feel we are not adhering strictly enough to the rigidness of the program; but in advance of even participating, a quick review of the list was all I needed to do to know that the list was incomplete in terms of providing nourishment and sustenance. The items on their own amount to little more than snacking, and while for the purposes of a one-off week project, it could be enough to get you through, long term the menu would quickly become boring and repetitious. So if the project is really about awareness, then it is about asking questions and seeking solutions. How much more can and do participants have on their tables beyond these meager supplies? How much more do I need to provide to cover my familys basic needs? And most importantly, what other types of services or offerings should we be including in our community programs to improve the available programs?