The Foodbank & I

It was almost 11 years ago to date while living in BC's interior, I decided to volunteer for their (the city shall remain nameless) foodbank. This was & is arguably the richest city in Canada, due to the super-wealthy's vacation-spot & popular retirement-city for again the wealthy.

This city also had a rather large client-base at the foodbank & habitat for humanity, which I also volunteered for.

I learned that our clients were not necessarily jobless or homeless only due to the extreme high cost of real estate & low wages, they simply could not generate enough income for housing or food???

Before I go on with the rest of the story, I have to tell you that, recognizing this fact, I set-out do to what others started a few years later. A sort of an "Occupied" movement. I was merely trying to organize a mass-strike that would include everyone from the garbage collectors & civil servants to doctors & lawyers. Yes, that is exactly how rich this city is, where even physicians & lawyers are not even considered to be wealthy???

Of course it didn't happen because it seems people have much higher threshold for poverty & misery, much to the 1%'s delight.

And we're back, lol.

At the foodbank we were filling our hampers, boxes & bags with white refined sugar, white flour, white bread, coffee, white rice, pasta,.... again, what???

This while we were smack in the middle of a place with long growing season & plenty of fruit growers & orchards, even in the city!

Anyhow to me this was like devil's work. I realize/d that 11 years ago & perhaps even now, not a lot of people know about the deadly effects of such horrible foods??

So I attempted to have a dialogue with their executive director & "dietitian" in an attempt to change the way we were weakening these poor people's already compromised immune systems, to no avail of course, sigh.

So my volunteer work there would be no different than a physician in Ontario, breaking the oath of not harming the patient once he knows about the side-effects, the dependencies, chemical make-up of a specific drug/vaccine,... only for $300,000 year less income.

So obviously I had to leave the foodbank there :(

The good news is that here in NB, I have been in contact with a wonderful Executive Director of my local foodbank who is excited to partner with me & really help her clients & even volunteers with our 20-30 workshops, employment etc.

I may be wrong(I often am, lol) but I still think that most folks would much prefer to be a productive member of the society than to simply accept handouts. Also I'm a firm believer of teaching people how to fish or grow organically, lol, than to simply feed them for one day.

Namaste