Freda Holmes: Day 6, install 13, Facebook entry

The Options Committee of Making Kenora HOME has proposed the second annual poverty challenge, A Walk in Other’s Shoes. Community members have been asked to spend seven days facing some of the challenges poverty causes. The event takes place during the second week of February, which is the annual Week of Action Against Poverty.

Participants will live off $52.00 for the entire seven days. This includes all food and drink, entertainment, some personal supplies and transportation costs. Each participant will be given a daily challenge card that will reveal an additional challenge; they must complete the challenge before the day’s end.

An opening event is scheduled to be held at City of Kenora Council Chambers at 12:00 pm on Wed. February 8th. The closing event will be held at the Kenora Recreation Centre Rotary Room at 12:00 pm on Thursday February 16th. Both are open to the public.

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Day 6, install 13, Facebook entry

Facebook entry, Tuesday, Feb 14.12

"Today was probably one of the pivotal days of the challenge. I'm comfortable that I have enough food left...even though I'm making pasta sauce at the moment. But I walked up to Knox for a fine lunch of vegetable soup with hamburg and pasta, salad nicoise, half a ham sandwich, a cup of tea, and cookies...the bonus was that it was served to me by my friend Ron Christie who volunteers there occasionally! (Menu alert: no salt is used anywhere and isn't available, for health reasons.)

Marlyn from the kitchen asked if I knew about the SA emergency food services which are available. I didn't. Adrienne mentioned them in her Friday blog so I walked down to Salvation Army to investigate. This is the pivotal part. I spent almost two hours there with the staff and I'm going to have to finish this monologue on the makingkenorahome.ca blog page because there's too much that I want to share. Meet me there?"

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69 years old - Retired

I worked 33 years in Brad's dental practice, travelled extensively over the years, many varied interests including gardening, butterflies, nature, crafts of all kinds, scuba diving and in the past, skiing. We have a merged family of four adult children and four grandchildren. I have been widowed for three years. I still live in our home, still travel and am active at Lakeside Baptist Church. I travel some distances for southern gospel concerts, including to Tennesee.

Average weekly budget for "basic needs": Living alone, I don't keep very close track of these, but $150 would be a resonable guess. This includes wine! I'm considering basic needs to be everything after living expenses such as taxes, utilities, home heating and phones.

Food Weakness: Lunches out, probably twice a week @ $25.00 each. Wine allowance is about $25.00 per week.

I anticipate the most difficult part of the challenge will be my mobility. I have a van. I drive to the city every couple of weeks; often more frequently than that. I drive everywhere locally although I live near King George School in Lakeside. I certainly spend $50 per week on gas, if I DON'T go to Winnipeg.

I'll also have to consider my computer time and tv time as it would relate to my life if my funds were more limited. I have extended cable, highspeed internet, and an extensive library of teaching dvd's. Both tv and computer time are very important to me and I'll have to factor in whether I'd be likely to have those luxuries if I were on assistance.

I have a lot of friends who live their lives pretty much as I do, with few limitations. We seldom consider those who have fewer resources for travel, entertainment, and general spending. Being part of the Challenge will give me an opportunity to bring the reality of poverty to those friends and acquaintances and MAKE it part of our conversation. Hopefully some of us will take an ongoing interest in addressing this issue of poverty and homelessness.

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Day 6, install 13, Facebook entry

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