“Chew on this”

(Update)

Almost one million Canadians reply on food banks across the country. In Hamilton, thousands look for extra help to feed their families. Thursday was the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty and a national campaign took place called ‘Chew on This’. Volunteers were out during the lunch hour all across the country, gathering signatures and asking the federal government for change. Sean Cowan caught up with one group in Hamilton’s downtown core.

It’s lunch hour on James Street North and volunteers like Tom Cooper are serving up a message: “There are a lot of people using food banks in Hamilton; 18,000, and there are more than 6,000 children who require the use of food banks every month.”

Inside these lunch bags — no food — and that’s the point. What you will find inside is a post card-address to Prime Minster Stephen Harper.

Cooper: “Canada is one of the few countries in the world that that doesn’t have a national plan to tackle poverty. We have a provincial one so the feds need one too.”

Some neighborhoods in Hamilton’s downtown core have a 47% poverty rate-meaning the average household income is under 38,000 a year or under 18,000 for a single person, so it’s no surprise that someone living in that income bracket would run into this campaign. Karen Ross makes good use of food banks: “With rent costs and my bills, I got less than $100 a month to live on, which means I use the food banks.”

Signatures were gathered and the post cards will be mailed out to the Prime Minister. Because ‘Chew on This’ is a national campaign, the volunteers are hoping there’s power in numbers and change will come to people who need it.