A pantry.
Full of various grocery items that do good for your body.
Full of endless opportunities to do good for your community.
The next time you reach into your pantry think about donating an item to a person or family in need.
On Wednesday, July 29, the Chatham-Kent Community Health Centres (CKCHC) will be hosting a food drive at their Wallaceburg site located at 808 Dufferin Avenue. The CKCHC will accept perishable and non-perishable food items from 4:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.
Food drives and banks are undeniably essential in preventing anyone from hunger.
According to the Ontario Association of Food Banks 2014 Hunger Report, almost 375,000 Ontarians turned to food banks and one third of them were children.
While food drives and banks provide a short-term solution to food insecurity, one must delve deeper into the causation of this insecurity to truly understand the need. There is often a misconception that only those who are economically disadvantaged may have decreased food provisions. While that can be a contributing factor, those who are employed may seek the assistance of a food bank as well.
Other contributing factors to consider are unemployment, low income and single income families.
The Statistics Canada Chatham-Kent Health Profile, December 2013, revealed that our community has a higher unemployment rate (8.8%) and long-term unemployment rate (6.8%) than those of our province (7.8% and 4.8%, respectively).
There may not be a silver bullet solution to these and other challenges that our fellow neighbour might be facing in relation to food insecurity. However, shedding light on these difficulties continues to spread awareness across the region.
If you would like to donate to the July 29th food drive, the CKCHC asks that you choose healthy options that you yourself would eat. Baby items are also welcomed. Anyone seeking information in regards to local food banks and/or healthy eating are encouraged to stop by.
