# real hunger



## MaryV (Jan 31, 2009)

you know i used to volunteer at the food bank in my city, i gave up after seeing the mismanagement and the disgusting way the poor were treated. I also felt that a lot of the people taking food didnt need it, but there isnt really a way to stop that. I really thought that there just arent realy any truly hungry people here in Canada. I was wrong.
I met a man recently in my neighbourhood who lives in a nearby govt sponsored apt bldg. he lives on 25 dollar a month after paying rent. He cant afford tv or phone, he cant buy bus tickets, he has to go to the food bank to get food. he is truly hungry. he told me many days he eats nothing at all. welfare wont give him anything, he lives on a small CPP pension. he is 6o and in bad health but he said disabilty keeps turning him down. 
I gave him some food from my stores. I didnt tell him I have stored food, but I did give him some food, maybe this is one reason WHY we ar to store food, not just for ourselves, and our families, but in SOME CASES we will be able to give to others. 
Now in a time of real crisis, I wont give my food away and make myself starve, but for now, it feels good to have some set aside that i can spare some for this man who is in such great need. 
it spurs me on to look for more sales. to stock pile more food. to dry more veggies. to set in some more grains. cause things are gonna get a lot worse.


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## The_Blob (Dec 24, 2008)

good for you, Mary V!

what a horrible situation... at least he still has housing tho, tent cities are starting to expand here in the US  

I took a bunch of home-made sandwiches & soup to an area I know where the homeless 'live' and there were twice as many as I remember, but no children thankfully, that's always the worst. I'd let them squat on my property, but unfortunately there are legal & safety issues with that.

I sent a proposal to a large (to remain nameless) city that has at least 3 recently closed 'trucker motels' (of 100+ units each that essentially sit there & just become more run-down, while generating no revenue & costing the city time/money in inspection personel, police patrols, utilities etc etc) to either rehab them themselves for public housing OR to sell/lease to habitat for humanity (HfH only does ind houses currently) or similar org to rehab for the same purpose.

The problem (to me) is finding people who will work to help rehab a place to live (skilled or not) so that they associate some value, and also hopefully a better sense of self-worth, with what they get (as opposed to a handout) which will make it that much less likely that the place will fall to urban decay, hopefully. 

that's the theory anyways


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## MaryV (Jan 31, 2009)

tent cities? wow! thats awful if you have people living in tents. we have lots of homeless in Canada, its terrible. that would be better for any city if they took those old motels and used them for housing. I know Vancouver has some kind of project where homeless people are trained to do reno work on old homes making them into apartments for them. 
for this man in my neighbourhood, I cant do a lot for him, its sad, but I dont have the kind of money that would allow me to support him. all i can do is give him some food occasionally. and you know as this gets worse, we will have to make hard decisions about who we help and how much...


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## Canadian (Dec 14, 2008)

Good for you Mary. You've got a good soul and a kind heart. Keep up the good work! That's how we roll. One soul at a time.


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## Expeditioner (Jan 6, 2009)

Kudos to you Mary. It is a mighty good thing that you did.


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## NaeKid (Oct 17, 2008)

MaryV said:


> tent cities? wow! thats awful if you have people living in tents. we have lots of homeless in Canada, its terrible. that would be better for any city if they took those old motels and used them for housing. I know Vancouver has some kind of project where homeless people are trained to do reno work on old homes making them into apartments for them.
> for this man in my neighbourhood, I cant do a lot for him, its sad, but I dont have the kind of money that would allow me to support him. all i can do is give him some food occasionally. and you know as this gets worse, we will have to make hard decisions about who we help and how much...


Head to downtown Calgary and you will find tent-cities. When the huge-boom was on last year, we had hundreds of people moving into Calgary because of the work available - but - no housing. We had people making $14/hr and living in a tent or RV-park or a backyard because they couldn't find a place to rent or buy.

I have seen people sleeping in a "one-man-tent", take-down their "camp", place into a back-pack and then hop into a "brand-new" car and zoom off to their job. We had "lifer" RV-parks open up just to handle people who couldn't find a place to live ..

One year after that we still have tent-towns (not quite cities anymore) - but - these are filled with more people who cannot hold-down jobs - the rest have since found real places to rent / buy.

Calgary is just starting to feel the effects of the recession that many others have been in for several months ..


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## Lucy (Mar 27, 2009)

Good for you, Mary. I agree about getting things to share with others. Hard times are upon us and so many. We all need to work together to survive. 
It is so sad when you here of the tent cities and the homeless. Especially when it involves little children and the elderly. That, and those that are sick and need medical help with no place to get a doctor to help them out.


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