The following article appeared in our local paper this weekend. On the
surface it's a good news story. When I asked local women in poverty what
they thought of the story, I found my own reaction validated: they felt ill
and deepened anger and despair.
I've included the full article since the Cowichan Pictorial refreshes its
website every week.
------------------------------
Cowichan gets stuffed and then some
By Aaron Bichard
The Pictorial
Aug 05 2006
The wheels on the bus would have been more flat than round late Wednesday
morning had the community who turned out at Save On Foods loaded the more
than 10,000 pounds of donated food onto the rig. Instead the volunteers and
donators ate cake and hot dogs and cheered each other knowing the Valley’s
hungry would have food for the summer.
During the past month, grocery store manager Chris Gale and his staff had
been pushing the Stuff the Bus food drive — an idea to raise enough food to
fill the Cowichan Capitals team bus.
“We didn’t know how much food would fit on the bus so we set our goal at
10,000 pounds (4,500 kilograms),” he said. “Within a week we’d hit the
halfway mark and the food just kept coming in.”
By selling ready-made bags of goods to donate at the store, plus having
drop-off spots at the News Leader/Pictorial, SUN-FM, Van-Isle Insurance and
the Bank of Montreal, the crew was able to amass much more than the goal.
“We also had over $1,200 donated that will go to the Cowichan Valley Basket
Society and the Salvation Army,” Gale said. “It’s been quite a success.”
MP Jean Crowder, MLA Doug Routley and Duncan Mayor Phil Kent were on hand to
help carry boxes into the bus, as well as members of Duncan’s Lions Club and
community members.
“It’s a very important time to be receiving food,” Basket Society manager
Betty Anne Devitt said. “People forget all the time during the summer that
we are still around... This is just fantastic, not only receiving the food
but getting the word out that we are running 365 days a year... We have such
an amazing, caring community here that has always been very, very good to us.”
Gale hopes to make the event an annual foodraiser and looks forward to
trying again next year.
“If we can help out the people who need it in our community, it makes our
community a better place to live,” he said.
------------------------------
I trust that most members of this listserv will understand the
less-than-good-news layers of meaning below the surface of this story; a
hint from the perspective of a group of women in poverty is the title I gave
this thread.
Two added and related points... a) Not all who are eligible to use a food
bank do so. A sizeable number of the impoverished in our community won't go
to the food bank. Is it a matter of pride? YES. We're allowed that, aren't
we? b) It used to be that local grocers sold day-olds and other
less-than-fresh perishable goods at reduced prices. Now the majority of
these grocers send these more affordable foods to the food bank.
--Ocean
-----------------------------------------
Ocean, WISE Coordinator
http://www.wise-bc.org/
NEW - WISE's Scarlet Letter Campaign
http://www.wise-bc.org/SLC/slc_intro.html
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