Operation Sharing - Mayor's Challenge

As part of Operation Sharing's Put Food in the Budget campaign - they challenged all Mayors and mayorial candidates in Oxford County to try and live for 5 days on what a single person would receive from a Food Bank. Their goal is to petition the provincial government to add $100 a month to the supplement folks on social assistance get.

I thought it would be better if Operation Sharing just asked the candidates for their platform rather than hosting a media event. Apparently they are pinning their hopes on this being a learning experience for decision makers rather than a publicity stunt. I also asked after seeing the list of food we have to eat if we can take the $25 and buy other stuff, so we can teach folks on social assistance how to eat better. Buddy from Operation Sharing says - people that go to the food bank don't get to choose what is in their hamper. Ooops! I learned something.

So off I went to buy the things on my list. Since I was suppose to learn something I comparison shopped - Something that a person at the Food Bank does do but other folks struggling to get by have to do. I have a vehicle so I have the luxury of choice

This is the list of items
2 NoName Mac and Cheese dinners - (I don't even like the Brand Name one)
1 Spaghetti or other Pasta
1 Spaghetti sauce - (My daughters could eat this list every day so far)
2 Tins of Tuna/Salmon/Ham/Turkey/Chicken
1 Cake Mix
3 small Canned soups
1 H'burger Helper box or Side K'cks
2 canned vegs or 1 fruit and 1 veg (Small)
1 Chick peas/beans/lentils
3 individual soup mix dry pack noodles (Generic Mr Noodles) -
4 individual pack Oatmeal or 1 box dry cereal
1 Loaf of Bread
3 Individual Drink Boxes
1 Small Peanut Butter
1 quart Milk (Can you buy quarts still?)
2 Brown beans
1 Box Crackers.
There is also a list of items Pick 5)  you can get from your pantry - No Eggs and we can have coffee or tea

I like to shop in town but we had to go to Woodstock to get a winter blanket for the pool so I thought I'd check out W*Mart and see what I could buy with my $25 budget. (They might not like what I found and I can't afford to get sued so you guess who THEY are) - Seems you can't buy 3 drink boxes there or 4 packs of Oatmeal. I don't think folks on a budget can always buy the bigger packs even if the unit quantity is cheaper. Total bill would have been $35 - adjusting for package size a $32 equivelant. Everything stayed on the shelf.

I like the Dollar Store in the same mall. Got everything but Milk and I had to substitute Pancake Mix for Cake Mix because I don't get to use the required eggs for the cake mix. Total bill minus Milk was $19.99
Yeah! I have enough left over for Milk and a 649 without Encore ;)

Back home in Ingersoll I went to Dollarama and looked at what I would have spent. I bought Soy Milk for $1.25 (That way my kids won't drink my milk) - Total bill for 5 days of food $21.24 - I can even get an Encore on my 649.

If I had shopped at Dollarama my bill would have only been $19 - Darn - Cheaper to shop in town. My purchases would have included more Canadian Made goods at Dollarama.

I thought I'd check out our downtown grocery store ( Many folks on Social Assistance can only buy food local to their residence - Having a grocery store downtown is a luxury many downtowns do not have - especially in big cities) Total bill with dairy milk adjusted for package sizes would have been $24.50

I don't do groceries - It's not that I don't like shopping, my wife thinks I am too expensive to bring along. I like new things and she buys the groceries so what I throw in the cart when she is not looking adds to her tab. She comes from a family of 14 kids so she has economy built in. We eat good though. Ingersoll has many options and she studies the weekly flyers like she is cramming for an exam. We get half a beef from a local farmer and with a grocery store and Dollarama a block away we are never stuck for a meal.

I am looking at 3 bags of food and thinking I might have to donate a few things to the Food Bank after my 5 days. I know already what I'll miss - Potato chips - Fruit - lunch meat - Meat in general and cheese!.  Glad coffee is allowed from my pantry. I use to spend atleast $5 a day on Timmy's and folks on social assistance have to eat on $5/day. Hmmm - Learning a different perspective perhaps.

I'll survive - I've gone 3 days before on just coffee doing crisis management in one business turnaround. Will this exercise help?- Maybe it will increase awareness amongst the luckier folks on how lucky they are.
Will an extra $100 a month change things for folks on social assistance? I doubt it.

I think throwing more money at these folks is not the answer but only a quick fix. We need to try and get some of these folks off the dole. If we could reduce the number of folks receiving social assistance by 20% we can give the rest the extra $100 without raising taxes. If we could give these folks some job skill training and experience they can get a hand up instead of a hand out. If folks that have their employer pay for their work boots once a year donated their old ones to Good Will or Salvation army we get feet in those boots that help to get the person on their feet also.

Every municipality has a list of things they would like to get done but no time to do it. We have people paid to stay at home that would love to help and maybe a letter of reference could help them get a real job. In a country as rich as Canada - I think we should make a concerted effort to eliminate the need for Food Banks - We have to think differently - realize that our wallets are getting thin so we can't donate as much as we'd like and that folks on Social Assistance can help enhance our services and get back on their feet. We'll see - Watch this blog for daily updates starting Monday on the Challenge.

Cheers
Mit