PARC and Peggy Nash MP Present - Belly Full, Guided by Bob Rose (PARC Ambassadors Program) and Peggy Nash MP...Hunger and food insecurity create serious health risks for low income people living in Toronto and across Canada. The widening gap between the rich and the poor is a reality, made more visible by the large numbers of vulnerable people using various types of food relief programs to feed themselves on a daily basis. Their struggle underpins the need for a national food security strategy and the political will to move this forward...A community's response to hunger is often aligned with the quality and measure of its other interdependent activities to understand, confront and change the conditions that trap people in poverty. ..Some of these conditions include: creating a shared understanding and resolve to address citizen income disparities, increasing the supply of affordable and supportive housing resources, creating education, employment and support options to alter the poverty equation and improve community food health. ..The Belly Full Walk will share stories about the struggle to support food security in west end Toronto over the last 30 years; how food insecurity has been personally experienced, how marginalized communities (and organizations working with them) have responded, the need for legislative change at all levels of government to eliminate food insecurity and the importance of citizen action in creating change...The Belly Full Walk will journey through the heart of Parkdale between Queen West and Sorauren Ave. and Queen West / Duffern Ave. Belly Full stories will share information about: ..? Hunger and Food Insecurity: A lived experience perspective.? Supporting Food Relief Programs (from food bank to daily meal services): What they do and what they do not do / The struggle for sustainability, nutrition standards and dignity / funding and support needs.? Meeting the Challenges of a Changing ? Local Food Economy: access for so
