Freda Holmes: 'twas the night before....

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.

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

'twas the night before....

BONUS! I decided to colour outside the lines and do my shopping tonight while I still had free use of my van. Making excuses was not how I intended to start off the week, but since I don't walk anywhere, I decided that my first journey out on foot maybe shouldn't be to carry home 20lb of groceries. I spent an hour at No Frills, checking prices, picking things up, putting things back, making pretty significant compromises. I was feeling a bit... no, more than a bit, discouraged, as my list total was nearing $30 and I still didn't have milk. (No Frills milk is .50 more than SAFEWAY!) I had a difficult time bypassing the cheese but I couldn't find any cheese under $6. At any rate, finished off with a 2L NN pulp-free (why bother?) OJ, and as I was checking out, the man behind me commented “Wow, that's a lot of food for $26.04!” What a boost that was to my day! When I thanked him for that encouragement, he said he knows how hard it is to shop...he has 4 kids under 9 and told me how hard it is to manage. So while I may have gotten off on the wrong foot by driving to do my shopping, the exchange with the other shopper was worth it...to me.

It's not really a menu-driven shopping but there are a lot of ingredients. Now I just have to find something clever to do with them.

2 comments:

DavidFebruary 8, 2012 at 7:33 PM
Very proud of you mom. I look forward to your insights as you 'do without'.
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JoFebruary 8, 2012 at 8:28 PM
What an inspiration you are Freda! You are walking our talk and I know that we will all learn from your experience when this is all over. You are in our Lord's hands....call on His wisdom as you face your challenges each day.
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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.