Something new will be commencing very shortly on the West Island. Mayor David Pollock of Beaconsfield has welcomed the opportunity to help the less fortunate of the West Island by encouraging those attending Beaconsfield's free music concerts to show their appreciation for the entertainment by bringing some non-perishable food to every performance that the public attends. Dorval's Mayor Rouleau has advised likewise and Kirkland will be doing the same at their family movie events.
Hopefully Westmount will be joining the effort as well. Simply check out the online schedule of the Westmount concerts for mention of the effort and hopefully Westmount will have mention of the effort shortly: http://www.westmount.org/calendar_view.cfm?Event_ID=134
Surprisingly, summer is not the best season for food banks. People go on vacation so there are less around to help the less fortunate. We hope to turn that around with this effort and ask all of those attending free music concerts to be aware of this continuing request to associate free entertainment with helping the less fortunate. Musicians will be asked to make the requests for donations and cities have been encouraged to mention the effort upon the website schedules for the concerts. Please look and listen for the requests and if you do not see them please ask your city; "Where are the requests mentioned for non-perishable food donations for the less fortunate?" It makes sense to ask such questions WHILE you are fortunate!
Please bring a non-perishable food donation whenever you are entertained for free, and not only will you feel better about yourself, you will also help to make others less fortunate than yourself, feel better as well.
About hunger in CanadaMany people do not realize the extent of hunger’s reach in this country. Each month, close to 900,000 Canadians are assisted by food banks, and 38% of those helped are children and youth.
The problem of hunger is a persistent one, with food banks providing comparable levels of food and other assistance for the better part of a decade.
Who is turning to food banks? There is no single, typical profile. The people helped include families with children, employed people whose wages are not sufficient to cover basic living essentials, individuals on social assistance, and Canadians living on a fixed income, including people with disabilities and seniors.
Consider these figures from HungerCount 2011:
- 93,000 people each month access a food bank for the first time
- 38% of those turning to food banks are children and youth
- 7% of adults helped are over age 65
- 10% of people assisted are Aboriginal
- 52% of households helped receive social assistance
- 18% have income from current or recent employment
- 13% receive disability-related income supports
- 35% of food banks ran out of food during the survey period
- 55% of food banks needed to cut back on the amount of food provided to each household
