Thank you to everyone who helped support the 2016 Welfare Food Challenge participants. Several of the Networks participated directly in the Challenge and learned first hand the harsh experience of people in our province who are having to survive on the current social assistance rates. Eating on $18 a week is an extreme hardship that needs to change.
Now that the Challenge has ended, let’s funnel the energy and enthusiasm from the Challenge into action.
Here are some suggestions:
- Ask people to sign our online petition.
- Write to your member of the Legislative Assembly, find their contact here, and Premier Christy Clark and Leader of the Opposition John Horgan saying welfare needs to raise now by hundreds of dollars a month.
- Go to the ‘Take Action’ section of our website (https://welfarefoodchallenge.org/take-action/), and do some of the suggested actions.
- Tell people about our new campaign, called We Can’t Afford Poverty. We Can’t Afford Poverty is an arts-based campaign that is aiming to keep poverty and homelessness at the forefront of the coming election campaign. By signing onto our mailing list, people will be tapped into Raise the Rates’ action campaign as we move towards the election.
- Donate the money saved on food purchases this week to Raise the Rates to help support and broaden our campaign efforts. Paste this link into your browser for the online donation form: https://www.gifttool.com/donations/Donate?ID=2022&AID=4470. The BC Poverty Reduction Coalition will pass on the money to Raise the Rates as we don’t have an online form.
Thank you for taking the time to help raise the rates and end poverty in BC. Let’s keep working together to help make a difference.
