Canadians are obsessed with talking about the food we’re cooking and the meals we’re having. We discuss the restaurants we’re going to or want to visit with wild excitement.
We photograph our food and share it on social media channels. Trending tags 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.
This week during Hunger Awareness Week the Salvation Army Food Bank is interrupting its fascination with food to instead bring focus to hunger.
“Hunger is an issue many Canadians are not comfortable talking about,” says Cpt. Isobel Lippers.
“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 Williams Lake and surrounding areas are invited to participate in local events at businesses that are helping the Salvation Army Food Bank in Williams Lake to interrupt the food conversation.
There are ways to help by purchasing the $2 coupons at Save-On-Foods and Safeway or by purchasing pre-made up food hampers at Safeway.
Walmart and The Real Canadian Wholesale Club also have bins for food donations.
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.
In Williams Lake the rise in need is represented by an increase of 131 per cent in those turning to the Salvation Army Food Bank for support, with more than 402 individuals being assisted this past month.
Hunger Awareness Week Sept. 21-25 was created to provide food banks with an opportunity to educate the public about the reality of hunger in Canada and to encourage all Canadians to make a choice to help those in need.
Close to 850,000 individuals turn to food banks for support each month, and close to four million Canadians are food insecure, struggling with not knowing where their next meal may come from.
Today, more than 800 food banks and 2,900 affiliated agencies work in communities across the country to assist Canadians in need.
Farm Credit Canada is an ongoing supporter of Hunger Awareness Week, 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.
Together, Canadians can make an impact on the solvable issue of hunger in Canada and find solutions to hunger in communities across the country.
The source of statistics quoted is the Hunger Count 2014, Food Banks Canada.
For information on the complete 2014 Hunger Count report go to foodbankscanada.ca/hungercount.