Sitting At The Table - A Human Right To Food

Have you ever gone hungry because you didn’t have enough money to buy food? Have you ever imagined how you would feel if you didn’t have the means to access the food your body needed? Have you ever considered the systemic inequality of food insecurity? Do you value the power of good food and its link to the social determinants of health? The right to food is a fundamental human right. In order to dig deeper into some of these experiences, the Parkdale Food Centre launched Sitting At The Table - A Human Right To Food survey in the early months of 2021. Led by Dr. Spencer Henson of the Department of Food, Agricultural and Resource Economics at the University of Guelph & Rebecca Dorris, Neighbour Experience and Opportunity Coordinator at the Parkdale Food Centre this survey was distributed to 244 Neighbours and focuses on understanding: Socio-economic characteristic of Neighbours Food security status Foodbank usage Service provision Surveys were distributed to Neighbours who access PFC programming; food bank, meal programs, cooking workshops & youth programs. Many interesting findings were determined from the results of the survey. The statistics and numbers are the reality that many face in the very community in which we live and work. Some of the results include the following: 85% of Neighbours could not cover an unexpected expense of $500 from their own resources 88% worry that food will run out before they are able to buy more. 51% of Neighbours accessing our services went hungry in past 12 months because they could not afford enough food 40% of Neighbours accessing PFC programming did not eat for a whole day because there was not enough money to buy food. 40.5% of children were often or sometimes not eating enough because adult members of the household could not afford food. The stark data that was uncovered in the ‘Knowing Your Neighbours' Survey inspired Meredith Kerr, Manager Communications & Donor Relations to breathe life into these numbers through Neighbour-led storytelling and film. These are their stories. www.parkdalefoodcentre.org IG: @parkdalefood FB: @parkdalefood Filmed by Hersi Osman @hersishighlights on Instagram