Project Winter Survival

5 years ago I made my first donation to Project Winter Survival. Last winter I had the opportunity to meet the founder of the project, Jody Steinhauer and see the facility where the magic happens. I've never seen another project of this calibre serving our homeless population. If you can donate $25, you may literally be saving someone's life this winter.

FOOD FIGHT!

              

PHOTO CREDIT: The Food Bank of Waterloo region website

Meet Mayors Carl Zehr and Brenda Halloran. Now, now don't be alarmed... although our two fine cities of Kitchener and Waterloo may disagree at times, this isn't just a regular meeting... our Mayors are prepping themselves for battle.

They're not fighting over rapid transit, amalgamation or any of those other pesky issues however, they're entering the battlegrounds as teammates for the Great Canadian Food Fight.

There will be no wasting of food in Waterloo Region though, our Food Bank of Waterloo Region been pitted against FEED Nova Scotia, the Regina Food Bank and the Mustard Seed in Victoria, BC to collect the greatest amount of food possible in 48 hours. The battle is simple:

From 6 pm October 11 (today!) until 6 pm Oct 13, food can be dropped off at the Food Bank, at grocery stores, many workplaces, Kitchener, City Hall, Kitchener Fire Headquarters or any Waterloo fire station. The food will be collected and weighed and the city that collects the most food, wins!

900,000 people a MONTH use food banks in Canada. 

13,000 children in Waterloo Region alone go to school hungry every day.

38% of food bank clients are children and youth

So while we have fun battling for food donation supremacy, there are too many Canadians who are counting on the food collected in order to live.

It's staggering. It's unacceptable. It's heartbreaking.

This morning, as I volunteered at the Nutrition for Learning breakfast club at Highland Baptist Church in Kitchener, one of the girls told me she didn't have a lunch. While we searched the church coffers for something to send with her, I thought about the fact that if it wasn't for the breakfast club, she wouldn't have eaten all day. She's 8 years old.

If you're friends with me on facebook or twitter, you'll see the #GCFF hashtag flying around as we start a game of food tag. I take a picture of food I am donating to the food bank. By tagging you in it, you've officially been challenged to make your own donation and challenge some of your friends. It doesn't have to be big or expensive, any little bit helps.

Habitweet for Humanity

Who doesn't love a little competition?

This month, Habitat for Humanity Waterloo Region is facing off against Habitat for Humanity Wellington County in a friendly competition to see which team can raise the most funds for the month of October.

There's still time to put together a team... 10 people or more who raise $1000 will be scheduled in for a build event this year. Don't want to build? Find a team and donate a product or service that can be auctioned off.  Don't have a product or service? Donate cold, hard cash right here.

So, go on and tweet it, facebook it, pin it, do whatever you do in your little space of the interwebs and let's help families get into homes.

You can find the official Habitweet website here (thanks to SpikeMobile) and can connect with them on twitter @Habitweet2012.