This is the time of year when I seem to be going from one big lunch or dinner to the next. Last night it was sweet coconut curry chicken satays and fry bread with peanut sauce at the Flying Dragon. Tonight it’s roast beef and mashed potatoes at my husband’s Christmas party. Saturdays are crammed packed with pancakes and sausages as we have breakfast with Santa, and the weekdays are an endless feast of homemade shortbread, rum balls, spicy meatballs and wine. Lots of wine. It’s generally around this time when my pants get tighter and I develop “muffin top.” It’s not pretty, but my lose red sweater will generally hide this temporary condition. The last thing I am going to experience over the next 31 days of holiday gluttony is a hunger pang. I go to bed full, stuffed in fact, but I am one of the really lucky ones.

Driving home from a Christmas party the other night, I am listening to my favourite radio station, 95 Crave, appealing for donations for the Greater Vancouver Food Bank (GVFB). I hear these appeals every year, but what stopped me cold, was when I hear that moms are diluting their baby’s formula to make it go further. I contact Arlene Kravitz, the GVFB’s director of communications, to better understand why this time of year is so important for them. “75% of what we need to operate the food bank for the year comes in November and December,” she explains. “Is it true that 41% of the food bank’s recipients are children,” I ask? “Yes, and summers are when the need is the greatest, because kids are out of school, and don’t have access to the lunch programs,” Kravitz explains.

When I ask her what their ideal donation is she replies, “High protein food like peanut butter, fish, and meals- in- a- can, anything with over 9 mg of protein.” In addition to providing food at the depot, the GVFB also supplies food to over 100 agencies that provide meals to homeless people. They feed over 25,000 people a week. She also says cash is greatly appreciated. With a $5 donation, they can buy $15 worth of food. “Everything makes a difference. No donation is insignificant.”

People can sign up to make monthly cash donations to their local food bank. If I make a monthly donation of $20, that will buy over $720 of groceries for the year. I can afford $20 bucks a month.

Here’s to not going to bed hungry.

Julie

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 13th, 2007 at 4:45 pm and is filed under Food, Kids. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.