Urgent Evoke

A crash course in changing the world.

Food insecurity in Canada, and what Guelph and other areas do to help

From the research I have done so far, it seems that Canada’s biggest issue when it comes to food security, outside of global warming is actually ‘poverty’. According to Canada’s Action Plan for Food Security, those
who are the poor and vulnerable members of society are the most likely to
suffer from food insecurity, and also those who are the least likely to be able
to change the situation. It was found that among these people, Aboriginal
people, single-mothers, children, people with disabilities (including mental
health issues), recent immigrants and those who have not yet completed high
school are the most vulnerable.


It is also those who are living on Canada’s social assistance program as their main source of income are the ones who are most likely to have a food insecure status. Those who also are the ‘working poor’ (those
who work, for minimum wage and still cannot meet basic needs), seniors,
children, and single mothers are also
extremely vulnerable in Canada.


Although it is just a short term solution, one thing across Canada that we do to try to combat this is a program called Meal Exchange. Meal Exchange focuses on University
students across Canada, to rally together and collect canned goods from the
society to donate to local food banks.


From their website (www.mealexchange.com)


Our Mission: Addressing hunger through student solutions.

Our Vision: To help eliminate the root causes of hunger and poverty by
engaging tomorrow's leaders, today.

Meal Exchange's Approach


Meal Exchange is organized exclusively for charitable purposes with aims and objectives to:


  • DONATE food to registered charitable organizations and those in need.
  • EDUCATE students about the root causes of hunger.
  • CREATE and involve students in volunteer opportunities with not-for-profit organizations that address hunger and hunger-related issues.
  • IDENTIFY and implement student solutions to hunger.

One of their biggest events is Trick Or Eat, an event that runs on Halloween, that requires students to sign up in teams, dress up, and go out trick or treating, but instead of collecting candy, they collect canned
goods. At my school as well, we
participate in another meal exchange program called Skip a Meal where we donate
money off of our meal plans, to go towards buying food for the food banks in
our area.


Unbelievable!!! Trick or Eat 2009 was our biggest and best campaign yet!


Amount of Food Raised = 165,500 meals (our goal was 160,000)


Number of Volunteers = 7,487 (our goal was 7,000)


Online Donations = $37,104 (our goal was $30,000)”


Overall,
this is a great, student run program devoted to helping those who are less
financially fortuna

Views: 23

Comment by Mita Williams on March 22, 2010 at 7:14pm
Kismet! I was introduced to some members of the local chapter of Meal Exchange at lunch today in our university's student centre. AND they gave me a vegan cookie! ;)
Thanks for sharing their work with the network, Justine!

Comment

You need to be a member of Urgent Evoke to add comments!

Join Urgent Evoke

Latest Activity

Ning Admin is now a member of Urgent Evoke
May 17, 2023
N updated their profile
Sep 25, 2020
Sophie C. commented on Asger Jon Vistisen's blog post Stinging Nettle
"I love that you've brought this to attention. An extensive database of uncommon but resistant and hardy plants/foods could be developed and organized by climate. Ease of growth and processing should also be taken in to account. I will try to…"
Aug 19, 2020
Meghan Mulvey posted a blog post

Fourth of July on the Lake

This past weekend was the annual celebration at the lake house in Connecticut. It is amazing that the lake is still so clear and beautiful after all these years. The watershed association has done a wonderful job protecting these waters from the damaging effects of development.The wood grill was finally ready to cook on, so we didn't miss the propane tank fueled grill anymore. The food actually tasted fresher than in the past and was easy to keep fueled.Dad was very proud of the solar hybrid…See More
Jul 6, 2020
Asger Jon Vistisen posted a blog post

Stinging Nettle

In this blog post I will focus on a plant that is abundant in our nature, and which is immensely nutritious. It's of course the Stinging Nettle. Let's start with the chemical constituents of this plant:37 % Non-Nitrogen-Extracts19 - 29 % Ash9 - 21 % Fiber4 % Fat22 % ProteinOnce the leaves are drid, their protein content can reach an astounding 40 %, which is much higher than beef, which even under the best of circ**stances can never exceed 31 % protein. In addition the Stinging Nettle consists…See More
Apr 13, 2020
Jonathon McCallum posted a blog post

The meal

It is 7'oclock, I was late home from work due to an assignment that i wanted to get ahead on. By the time I get home I am feeling extremley tired and I cannot be bothered to make a proper meal. I walk to the fridge and open it to see what there is for me to eat. All of the out of date foodstuffs have been automaticaly thrown away by the fridge, they will be recycled tomorrow as animal feed or something. I see i have organic local eggs and some local cheese. Foods are vacc** sealded for easy…See More
Mar 10, 2020
Jean Paul Galea shared a profile on Facebook
Mar 1, 2020
Kevin posted a blog post

Future

FutureToday is 2020/1/1. It is just like yesterday. The war is still continuing. It has started since 2010. In 2010, that year was a horrible year. Almost every energy ran out. Every country’s governments were crushed down at the same time. There were riots everywhere. All of the big company’s bosses were killed xdeadx in the riots. Troops fought each other everywhere. Food was bought up xawayx at once. There were no more food supplies in any shops. The economy was all crushed down. All the…See More
Jan 1, 2020
Namwaka Mooto posted blog posts
Jan 13, 2016
T D updated their profile
Sep 3, 2015
Brook Warner posted blog posts
Aug 25, 2015
Santiago Vega posted blog posts
May 5, 2015
Santiago Vega commented on Santiago Vega's blog post Act 8
May 5, 2015
Santiago Vega posted photos
May 5, 2015
Rico Angel Rodriguez posted blog posts
May 2, 2015
Rico Angel Rodriguez posted a photo

public servants

The exchange works directly for state and public workers and servants. It gives them credit in exchange for the amount of public work they contribute to the community. The more constructive they are based off a base rate the more credit they recieve.
May 2, 2015

Follow EVOKE on Twitter




Official EVOKE Facebook Page




EVOKE RSS Activity Feed










© 2024   Created by Alchemy.   Powered by

Badges  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service