Sarah Campbell: Today's Challenge

The Options Committee of Making Kenora HOME has proposed the second annual poverty challenge, A Walk in Other’s Shoes. Community members have been asked to spend seven days facing some of the challenges caused by poverty. The event takes place during the second week of February, which is the annual Week of Action Against Poverty.

Participants will live off $52.00 for the entire seven days. This includes all food and drink, entertainment, some personal supplies and transportation costs. Each participant will be given a daily challenge card that will reveal an additional challenge; they must complete the challenge before the day’s end.

An opening event is scheduled to be held at City of Kenora Council Chambers at 12:00 pm on Wed. February 8th. The closing event will be held at the Kenora Recreation Centre Rotary Room at 12:00 pm on Thursday February 16th. Both are open to the public.

Friday, February 10, 2012

Today's Challenge

Today's challenge is that I have a cut on my hand that is oozing and I need to purchase something to stop the infection. I have $0.15 left of the $52. The only thing I can think of doing is to ask a neighbour or go to the emergency (even though this isn't really an emergency and I wouldn't have transportation to the emergency anyway).

I opted to borrow from a neighbour, even though this isn't keeping with the challenge. There was no way that I could have afforded to even get into the city, nevermind buy anything to sterilize my hand.

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Occupation: Member of Provincial Parliament

I’m 29 years old, married with six cats that share our home. I’m a proud northerner and I have a great passion for our way of life, including hunting and fishing. My job gives me the opportunity to work with people from across our region, to hear their stories, understand the challenges they face and to help improve life in our area.

Food Weakness: Fast food when I’m traveling between communities.

Average Cost of Weakness: $50 per week.

What do you anticipate being the most difficult in the challenge?
The biggest challenge is going to be staying under budget. I will be traveling in the far north during a large portion of the challenge, where basic necessities are significantly more expensive. This includes $16 for 4L of milk, or $40 for a 10 kg bag of flour.

Why did you decide to take the challenge?
I wanted to take part in this challenge because I think it does a great deal to raise awareness of the difficulty individuals and families with low incomes have with keeping food on the table, in particular healthy food. While the biggest challenge will be staying within the budget, this challenge gives me an important opportunity to raise awareness of the inadequate basic needs amount for people living everywhere-- whether you’re living in a municipality like Kenora, Dryden, Sioux Lookout, Ignace or Machin, or in a First Nation community in the Far North such as Deer Lake, Sachigo or Fort Severn-- and the physical and emotional health challenges it creates. Food is such an essential part of our society-- access to it is something we all take for granted, yet when we don’t have access to nutritious food it makes it difficult to concentrate or have the energy to perform basic tasks and participate in employment opportunities.

Friday, February 10, 2012

Today's Challenge

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