Managing Poverty

After 25 years you'd think we'd be used to it. But by the time I walked into the food bank for the press conference for our 25th annual Spring Food Drive I sensed something different inside of myself.The number of families we were helping was huge (3660 a month in January), but that wasn't it. Londoners had given enough food to fill a warehouse, but it wasn't that either. The volunteers were bustling around the warehouse and front area, displaying a remarkable commitment to their community. Yet after a few moments observing them, I knew it was more than such an inspiring sight.And then it dawned on me. All this work, and generosity, and need, and struggle - we were managing poverty. What once was a blight in the minds of Canadians seeking prosperity and equity had now become a way of life. Food banks like ours are teetering on the edge of institutionalism. For years our communities across the country have comforted themselves by saying that it's a shame we have food banks, but that doesn't really cut it anymore. Twenty-five years of that shame is a long time. The great generosity of places like London and the fantastic commitment of its citizens and groups shouldn't have to be preoccupied with this kind of work for an entire generation. They should be out there building schools, greening communities, holding citizen engagement sessions, fighting for public transport or seeking political reform. Instead they are at a food bank displaying the kind of commitment that represents the highest degree of citizenship. Yet even these wonderful people wonder where the numbers will end and how much more hunger can a community endure. That ability to question is also what makes them the remarkable people they are.Managing, tolerating, accommodating - these are words that should never be placed in the same sentence as poverty. Instead they should be ending, fighting, reducing. It's been 25 years and perhaps it's time to stop coming to terms with this great reduction of human potential and as a community struggle with our marginalized citizens to reclaim their rightful positions among us.http://youtu.be/ps4bTHrlU4Y