Food Rant ...

You've been warned ... this is the first of several pending rants about poverty, housing, food and homelessness in the Brandon area ...

Yesterday I went down to the local Food Bank - Samaritan House Ministries to get the low down on the current situation being faced by the vulnerable and at risk population in Brandon ... the news was grim ...

The supply of fresh veggies, usually something that sits for a few days before being taken, are vanishing as fast as they can be laid out on the table. Beets, beans, cucumbers, - YOU NAME IT - folks are snapping up whatever gets placed out as quickly as they can - something the staff and volunteers have never witnessed before ...

There is a wait list for hampers forming with people calling in a day or two early to MAKE SURE THEIR NAMES ARE ON THE LIST !!! Again something staff and volunteers simply don't recall ...

Families that haven't used the Food Bank since 2006 are showing up for assistance ...

The Soup Kitchen is seeing a marked increase in the number of meals being served, with around 180 meals a day being offered to those who come looking for help ...

And perhaps most ominous of all - supplies are quickly dwindling ... 16 banana boxes FULL of canned baked beans went out over the last week and the trickle coming in will NOT replenish that loss ...

Some time was spent yesterday trying to ascertain "WHY?" this is happening now ... it is earlier in the summer than usual, and it is arriving with an intensity that is worrisome ...

Is it fuel prices?
Rental Prices?
Food prices?
Income levels?

No one is really sure ... the only certainty is that helping the poor, the vulnerable and the at risk remains a growth industry, and today in Brandon it is definitely growing ... and that is NOT GOOD.

There are no easy solutions. Today what is needed is awareness by everyone from volunteers through to our political leadership ... what is needed is an awareness that spurns ALL OF US into action ... action that includes donating cash and food and time ... action that includes talking about the problem and NOT envisioning it as something that is not happening here (I've heard THAT too often - and I've heard it from Church people who refuse to acknowledge that poverty exists in their safe little community) ... action that includes changing our thoughts and perspectives on economics and on our purchasing power ... and action that includes TAKING THE ISSUE OF POVERTY SERIOUSLY.

As Gandhi once said - "be the change you seek" ... no one deserves to be poor, or hungry ... and in a country as rich and as affluent as Canada, we need to stop the tired stereo types and start helping those who are simply caught up in an economic maelstrom ...

We each need to ask ourselves two simple questions (thanks to the Rabbi Hillel):

If not me, then who?
If not now, then when?

The answers are ALL about action ...