Experience Hunger Project

Mercredi, 28 septembre 2011 00:00

Marilyn Quinn, NBNU president, recently participated in a project to raise awareness of poverty, hunger and inadequate social assistance funding. As part of the “Experience Hunger Project,” our NBNU president ate at the local Fredericton soup kitchen and survived on the food she was given by the food bank for three days.

The Common Front for Social Justice (CFSJ) launched its “Experience Hunger Project” to fight against the prejudice that it's possible to survive with the social assistance rates currently in effect. It’s a way to help put a stop to myths surrounding social assistance recipients.

The following is a blog President Quinn posted on the third day of her experiment:

Day # 3 – I think overall the three-day project gave us a very small peek into the reality for thousands of men, women and children who live in poverty in this province. We are not experts and we don’t presume to pretend we know what it is like to live in poverty. We know it was only an experiment but what we learned is very real. The challenges are numerous. It complicates life on all levels. It affects a person’s entire life. What we know is that food banks and soup kitchens are designed to be temporary measures. What is really needed is food security and diets that promote healthy minds and bodies with adequate nutrition, vitamins, minerals and nutrients that allow people to achieve their full potential. This mandate goes beyond the purpose of a food bank or a soup kitchen and requires a change in policy. The inequity between the rich and the poor is far too great. All people deserve to live with dignity and it will take all citizens in this province to end poverty. Poverty has a cost for individuals, communities and society. We will be a better province when we all exert enough political pressure to have government create better policy to improve social assistance and the minimum wage and take the necessary steps to end poverty. We all have a part to play.