Editor:
The Ladysmith Food Bank needs your help to remind readers of the needs of so many in our town. Some get a bag of food once a month, others need a bag a week.
Seventy-five volunteers work one or two days a month filling the bags. They need help from your readers to provide non-perishable food – a jar of peanut butter, a can of salmon, pasta and sauce. Perhaps they would prefer to give money instead of items. The purchasing volunteers use monetary donations carefully to multiply each dollar three times.
I am appealing to you because this year is different from previous times. It is just as rainy, but different because in other years there were many items coming into the Food Bank for volunteers to bag. Fewer bags and less money has come in from the good people of Ladysmith during this pre-Christmas season. The Christmas Cheer fund is also hoping for more donations.
I know there are many appeals at this time of year, but please ask your readers to consider their neighbours who need help. Remind them of the good feelings they will get helping others and the thanks they will receive.
Thank you for your help.
Caroline DavidsonFood Bank PR Coordinator
CANADA NEEDS TO DO BETTER ALLEVIATING WORLD’S CHILD-HUNGER
Editor:
More than 60 years ago the UN established Nov. 20 as Universal Children’s Day, a day where the rights and needs of children everywhere are acknowledged.
By all measures the world has done an incredible job at improving the lives of the world’s most vulnerable, but of course much remains to be done.
Sadly, Canada cannot take much credit for this, because we have long lagged behind all other major developed nations in our commitment to foreign aid, as a proportion of GDP.
With the election of the Trudeau government many Canadians hope for a significant improvement in Ottawa’s sense of social responsibility, at home and abroad. But past Liberal governments began Canada’s steep decline in aid, a trend that only worsened under the Conservatives.
Canada’s aid is parsimonious, barely one third of it’s publicly declared goal of .7% of GDP.
Improving Canada’s standing in the world has been one of Mr. Trudeau’s stated goals during the election, and this Universal Children’s Day is a great opportunity for him to show that this was not mere electioneering, and at last increase aid funding for the world’s most vulnerable children.
Nathaniel PooleVictoria BC