theven's posterous

I'm done..done! Now what?

By Friday I had had about enough. I bailed early and cheated having a hearty meal at my local. After all I had to drive the following morning for Food for Life and I needed to be alert and hearty! Good excuse regardless. This exercise became the focus of conversation that evening as you might expect. Whether in jest or not one person with whom I was having a conversation observed “no wonder people who live in poverty are unhealthy and often have issues with their weight!’ Duh!! I wanted to scream- well then get off your butt and do something because they haven’t got a lot of other choices! Someone else commented that they are going to pay a lot more attention to what they provide for the food bank- no more clearing out the cupboard of stale dated stuff! Protein, protein, fruits, vegetables- fresh, healthy, we need it all. Now that’s some progress.

 

It was less than a week but felt like a lifetime. This was a lifetime of learning, a ‘scales from the eyes’ moment, a wake up call to action because as I said earlier in the week, the system is broken, and only we can fix it. People live this life week after week, year after year, generation after generation- it can do nothing else but deaden the soul and kills hope on many different levels. Those of us who work in the Church and call ourselves Christians are a people hope, a people of compassion and we are called to be a community of justice when hope and compassion fade. We are the advocates for those who cannot be so for themselves. We need to get on with it and we need to do so now.

 

Thank you for this opportunity, I think. Now it begins.

 

Michael Patterson

Day 3 and fading

This is indeed getting serious. Basically 3 and a half days with virtually no protein. Whatever the dieticians might say regarding what effects this might create, I am not sure. However, I can say that I am having a heck of a time remaining focussed and I have been told on more than 1 occasion that I am grumpier than usual. I ran into a colleague in Toronto today who asked me a) why was I doing this and b) why was I doing this alone? The answer to the first question would be that in order to believe that change is possible and absolutely necessary, one must have a ’lived experience’ of what the challenges and hurdles are. For the tens of thousands of Ontarians living in poverty in this province, there is no safety net; it is broken big time! Living on OW of $585.00 as a single person or about $1100.00 living with a disability and having to count on food banks, there is no security. I can see that in this existence ( jumping through hoops, living under constant scrutiny, and having to justify your existence) , there is no hope and all it does is perpetuate a spiral of ill health and despair.

I am doing it alone to learn and grow for now. Our diocese will find the capacity to get more broadly involved and engaged as we embrace our vision of prophetic social justice making.

I remain terribly hungry and tired, worried that my hamper is running out and feeling guilty that I see turkey on the horizon!

Michael Patterson

__________ Information from ESET NOD32 Antivirus, version of virus signature database 5513 (20101007) __________

The message was checked by ESET NOD32 Antivirus.

http://www.eset.com

Looking for the Creativity

In someone’s post this morning they used the word ‘bland’. Bland is not my problem; I have lots of pepper that seemingly is going on everything without a second thought. My issue continues to be creativity. I can cook but just barely (my kids would tell you that). When I really want to get fancy I have to use a recipe book so faced with a counter of starch and a few random vegetables, I drew a blank. I wonder about how many others would be like me just not having the creativity to stretch the hamper or even know how to cook at all. It is not just about what you’re given; it’s about the management of the resources available. My partner spoke up and helped me (is that cheating?) whip up a rice, zucchini, and onion ‘casserole’ with a side of white bread and boiled potato; my last lonely apple as dessert. We made enough to provide me my lunch today and as I began to chow down, my colleague looking down her nose at my plate asked me ‘When was the last time you had any protein?”  I suppose it was the peanut butter I had yesterday morning. I am feeling very tired and I was as hungry this morning as I have ever known. Another post talked about feeling full but not satisfied. I know what that means- I am full after lunch but I am still hungry. In the cathedral where I work, people bring in fresh fruit to offer to the people who live on the streets around here. A colleague suggested I take advantage of this resource and at first I said that this would not be following the rules. But this person insisted that if I was following the rules I would qualify for a piece of that lovely fruit so I had a banana. It helped  

 

I heard an advertisement on the radio coming in this morning for a deal at a fast food restaurant; for only $5 you can get 2 hamburgers (for a limited time only). It struck me that for a person on OW that would be the equivalent of about 1%  (with taxes) of that person’s monthly income. For a person from the postal code where I live, those same hamburgers would cost about $55 if one was going to spend 1% of monthly income on a burger or two. It just put it in perspective for me that a person living on OW or ODSB has to make choices and decisions every moment that the vast majority of us never give a second thought to. To have to give thought to spending every penny in a manner, where then something else would have to sacrificed, is a very foreign notion to most Ontarians. Frankly, this is a notion that should not have to be made by ANY Ontarians. 

 

Michael Patterson

Executive Officer

Diocese of Niagara

Anglican Church of Canada

Day 2 of PFiB

Day 2  in Hamilton

It’s all about the creativity in knowing how make turnip tasty without any spices. Knowing that in order to spread the milk out, add a third of a cup of water with your cereal. I am feeling like I don’t want to have to be creative first thing in the morning particularly when I won’t be having my morning coffee. I can’t help but think of the people that I sat with yesterday morning at the food bank as I waited to be interviewed and get my fair share. They knew each other well, shared the secrets of where the best supplies of food were this week and shared recipes using what little they were going to be given- I should have been listening. One woman, Rosemary, brought in clothing , books and household items to share that she no longer had any use for as she too waited her turn for her monthly allotment. She held court with us all and seemed know instinctively what we were each feeling; she assumed the role of matriarch amongst us.

I cannot fathom how these people can do this week in and week out relying on whatever is available for sustenance and counting on the meagre $585.00 from the province to make up the difference. Something is definitely broken?

The Venerable Michael Patterson

Executive Officer

Diocese of Niagara

Anglican Church of Canada

905 527-1316 x257

__________ Information from ESET NOD32 Antivirus, version of virus signature database 5505 (20101005) __________

The message was checked by ESET NOD32 Antivirus.

http://www.eset.com