Spreading the word on poverty
Brown bag campaign aimed at educating society on poverty
It was an initiative that likely would have met the approval of Mahatma Gandhi.
After all, the iconic 20th century figure, unofficially known as the father of modern India, once declared that
“poverty is the worst form of violence.”
On Tuesday, an alliance of local anti-poverty groups marked the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty by taking to the streets to spread the word that financial hardship remains widespread across the municipality.
Clients, volunteers and staff of the various organizations that make up the Cape Breton Inter-Agency on Family Violence handed out ‘Chew on This!’ brown bags containing snacks, informational leaflets and post cards, with pre-paid postage, addressed to Ottawa that call on the federal government to come up with a national anti-poverty plan.
Helen Morrison, executive director of Cape Breton Transition House, was among those distributing the brown bags to passersby on Charlotte Street in Sydney, while others did the same in Glace Bay and North Sydney
“It’s terrible — there are still far too many children going to school without breakfast, going to school malnourished,” said Morrison, who added that the latest statistics confirm that one in three Cape Breton children live below the poverty threshold, while the national average is one in eight.
“We’re just out here targeting the average person on the street who is just walking along — we want to talk to people who normally don’t get this information and to remind those who already have it.”
But poverty can be ignored and often is. Even in Sydney, some pedestrians, whether consciously or subconsciously, crossed Charlotte Street and avoided the people handing out the brown bags.
“A lot of people don’t know just how many children are going hungry — I think that most Canadians like to believe that this problem doesn’t exist, but it does and that isn’t acceptable,” said Morrison.
This is the fifth year for the ‘Chew on This!’ campaign. In 2016, brown bag-toting teams hit the streets in every Canadian province and territory with organizers estimating that volunteers connected with more than 330,000 people across the country.
Local groups that took part in this year’s campaign included Every Woman’s Centre, Ally Centre of Cape Breton, Town House Citizens Service League, Cape Breton Transition House Association, Adult Learning Association of Cape Breton County, and Community Cares Youth Outreach.
It’s estimated there are some 4.8-million Canadians living in poverty.