Even More Myths about the Food Bank • Poor people don’t know how to budget properly. People working full time earning minimum wage make just over $16,575 (before tax) annually. Welfare rates are similar. It costs over $7,000 annually to rent a two bedroom apartment. It takes much creativity, and sacrifice, to pay for everything else on just $5,000 annually: food, transportation, clothing, heating, phone, childcare, medications and dental care. Budgeting is not the problem. Not enough money to make ends meet is the problem, leading many to the food bank. • Children rely on food bank because their parents waste money gambling and smoking. Almost half of the people who are poor in Canada are single mothers. Children are poor because their parents are poor. A Canadian study shows after a marriage separation, women immediately lose 23% of family income. Poor people spend a disproportionate amount of their incomes on rent and often take money from their food budget to cover shelter expenses. Parents who are poor routinely report going without food themselves to make sure their children eat. Cigarettes are an addiction and many believe smoking helps reduce depression and suppress appetites. Lottery tickets and other forms of gambling are advertised representing hope of escape. Myth: Anyone can get out of poverty if they’re willing to work. Fact: For people living in poverty, a well-paying job is often out of reach. For one thing, these jobs just aren’t there. In recent years, we’ve seen an increased trend in toward more contract and part-time jobs with little to no benefits. Certainly the recent recession didn’t help in this regard. Those who do manage to obtain employment are still not making enough money to make ends meet People living in poverty also face other barriers to employment—insufficient education, lack of funds to pay for childcare or transportation, and the presence of a disability or chronic health condition. And on top of these physical barriers, many experience societal barriers such as gender, age and ethnicity. Myth: People give up too easily and ask for help from food banks when they don’t need it. Fact: We often hear from individuals and families in need and many say the same thing—that the hardest part is asking for help. No one wants to line up at a food bank. And many people who do never thought they would have to. Some require assistance temporarily because of unexpected job loss, relationship breakdown, injury or illness. Many families will experience real financial difficulty as they adjust to an income loss without a comparable reduction in expenses, but are able to bounce back with a new job or when they return to work after recovering from an illness or injury. And when they do visit a food bank, it doesn’t mean they are stocked up on food for the rest of the month. Although they each operate differently, most food banks provide only 3-4 days worth of food. Myth: People on welfare have it pretty good. Fact: The money people receive through Income Assistance isn’t enough to cover life’s basic necessities, let alone the small extras that so many of us take for granted. And when individuals try to rise out of poverty by obtaining employment, they are punished by a system that restricts how much they are able to earn before money is deducted from their monthly cheque. It is impossible to get ahead.
Posted on: Tue, 25 Jun 2013 18:27:44 +0000
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