HomeMy WebLinkAboutHuron Expositor, 2015-10-07, Page 9Wednesday, October 7, 2015 • Huron Expositor 9
Thanksgiving, a blessing for those in need in Seaforth
Shaun Gregory
Huron Expositor
Whether it's a populated
city the size of Toronto or a
small rural town like Sea -
forth, every so often a growl-
ing stomach requires
assistance.
A fraction of nourishment
to replenish the body is all
that's needed for most peo-
ple. To help with the hard
times some are facing in the
everyday struggles of life, the
Seaforth and District Food
Bank lifts off again partnered
with Foodland for the
annual food drive. The large
brown paper bags are avail-
able to purchase at Sea-
forth's fairly new rebuilt
Foodland with three prices
starting at $5, $10 and $20.
"Most small towns you
will find there is just not a lot
of jobs and people that are in
town they've been there for a
long time and they need
food," said Seaforth and Dis-
trict Food Bank committee
chair Bob McDowell. "That's
why food banks are so
important."
The bags are stationed
throughout the grocery
store and the objective is
to buy them and drop the
donations off at the front
entrance, where they will
then be brought to the
food bank. Stunned with
the number of bags
bunched in the back room,
McDowell is questioning
just how many bags will fit
at the food bank. The
Thanksgiving surprises are
usually a limited time offer.
But McDowell indicated
the new owners of
Foodland have taken the
noted offerings "one step
further" and are making
the pre-packaged food
bags available all year
round. The generous con-
cept is something married
couple MJ and Kevin Baer
offered at their previous
Foodland in Lucan. The
twosome prepared 300
bags this time around.
"We're making them every
week. People are so support-
ive, what's $5 or $10, they
know it's going local and
they know the value of the
bag is more than what it says
on it," Baer voiced to the
Expositor in the back ware-
house section of Foodland.
Most donations are
equipped with a healthy col-
lection of foods such as tuna,
peanut butter, cereals, rice,
pasta and apple juice. The
groundwork of the packag-
ing is made primarily by
Kevin said MJ.
"With a little bit of love,"
laughed Kevin.
Michele Gaynor, social
service manager for Huron
County considers this a
"heartwarming" gesture for
the community of Seaforth,
especially during a time
when the country as a whole
has declined for the people
in need.
"A 25 per cent decrease in
social assistance rates, the
current government has
been fully increasing them,
but at this time we're still
not at the same rate as it
was in 1996, so that's the
first issue," she said. "Sec-
ondly, we do have a high
sector in retail and tourism,
which are traditionally
seasonal and lower paying.
So they need that extra
support."
In a phone interview
October 1, Gaynor stated
there is a wide variety of
residents from Huron
County using food banks,
including people on social
assistance and those sea-
sonally employed. In
addition, other groups
benefitting from the food -
banks include those work-
ing multiple jobs, but still
not making a full-time
minimum wage job, and
workers trying to move
ahead in the lower paying
jobs. To soften the situa-
tion, the minimum wage
in Ontario increased
October 1 from $11 to
$11.25. However accord-
ing to a research report
created in 2015 by the
United Way in Perth -
Huron $16.47 per hour is
the living wage by both
adults in a family of four
working 37.5 hours a
week. Consequently being
employed below those
hourly rates is how people
are ending up at such food
banks such as Seaforth's to
collect meals, Gaynor
said. In a serious tenor in
her voice she said, "by the
grace of God it could be
any of us."
"Obviously we would
like to create a society
where we didn't need to
rely on food banks, so peo-
ple didn't need to sort of
check their dignity at the
door and ask for help and
they could be self-suffi-
cient," Gaynor said from
her office in Clinton.
1.14
b
Shaun Gregory Huron Expositor
Some of the many donation bags available at Foodland. The new owners have made the bags
available all year round instead of one specific holiday.
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