festi-faim

Today was the much-anticipated (well, at least for me) Festi-Faim, organized by the Côte-des-Neiges/Notre-Dame-de-Grâce Borough Council. It is an all-day event for many of the main summer day camps in NDG which consists of the day camp participants (ranging from 6-16 years old) collecting non-perishable food items from various neighbourhoods for local food banks through the week, and then coming together for a big day of activities and fun at Confederation Park. It consisted of the usual day-camp event suspects: big inflatable balloons, a visit from the local police and the RCMP, and of course, kiosks from local community organizations such as Éco-Quartier NDG, C-Vert, as well as a few others. As a representative for the NDG Food Depot, I worked with Romney (my fellow summer student at the Depot) and Anna, a summer student from the NDG Communtiy Council, to develop an activity that aimed to help the participants understand the concept of hunger itself and to help them emphasize with families and individuals in the community that are in situations of food insecurity.

We did this by following the Food Bank of Western Massachusetts' Hunger Continuum, which outlines 5 levels of hunger:

1. Starvation
2. Malnutrition
3. Food Insecurity
4. Food Security
5. Community Food Security

Some photos from the day:

The kiosk when we first set up.


A sample basket of food that the NDG Food Depot would provide for a family of 4 people. It is designed to last 2 and 1/2 days.


Left to right: a months' supply of food (for an average North American family), the kind of diet a food insecure individual(s) would eat (mostly pasta and ramen noodles, with the Canada Food Guide to contrast the many nutrients that are lacking in this diet) and finally, the kind of food that people who are in extremely desperate circumstances would have to subsist on (grass, bark, some nuts).


The NDG Food Depot information board, which kept getting blown off the table by the wind.


Some of the activities that were happening on the soccer field in front of us.

The famous Earth Ball. It re-ignited some of my long suppressed aspirations for world domination. Watch out, Obama.

Starvation: the first and most severe level of hunger, according to the Hunger Continuum (adapted from the Food Bank of Western Massachusetts).


Level 2: Malnutrition: a condition caused when the body does not get the proper nutrients, ususally due to a poor or inadequate diet.


Showing that malnutrition can be caused by eating only cheap foods such as pasta and pasta sauce. Many people across Canada have no choice but to live on such cheap staples, lacking any form of real proteins and other essential nutrients.


Level 3: Food Insecurity. Definition: the lack of access to enough nutritious food at all times to meet one's basic needs.

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Level 4: Food Security: the ability to obtain, at all times, nutritionally adequate and culturally acceptable food.


Explaining the activity to participants.


Handing out OPUS cards for a family's monthly transportation needs.


They are happy with their new OPUS cards, but it cost this "family" of 5 $240! Also, note that they now also have telephone and TV, as well as their rent--with plenty of money left over for food that month. This is an example of a "Food Secure" family. This is in contrast to a Food Insecure family, which would only have about $50-60 for an entire month of food.

Showing participants the sample basket for a family of four.

Level 5: Community Food Security: When all people in a community have access to culturally acceptable and nutritionally adequate food at all times from non-emergency sources.
The big question: how do we reach this goal?

For more (not cut off!) pictures from the day with other groups, visit my Facebook album!