VANCOUVER – Singer and performer Bif Naked will be living on $3 a day for food for the next seven days.
She is taking on the Raise the Rates’ Third Annual Food Challenge, to highlight the inadequacies of welfare rates in the province.
In B.C. a single person receives $610 a month. Once money is deducted for living expenses and rent, there is $21 a week left for food.
Why $21 for a Week’s food
| Total welfare | $610 | |
| Rent (realistic rent for an SRO)* | $450 | |
| Room damage deposit | $20 | |
| Book of 10 bus tickets (to look for work) | $21 | |
| Cell phone (to look for work) | $25 | |
| Personal hygiene/laundry | $10 | |
| Total of all non-food expenditures | $526 | |
| What’s left for food | $84 |
Oct. 16 is also World Food Day. Anyone can take part in the welfare challenge, and Bif Naked will be documenting the experience on her Facebook page.
“Twenty-one dollars is not enough,” said Bif Naked. “I’m sure we can all agree it’s not enough to live on, food intake for the week. I’ve purchased my goods, my groceries, with my $21 that I’ll eat for the week and you know I can figure out how to strategically ration it certainly but I don’t get to utilize the food banks, I don’t get to utilize anything I have in my pantry already, including hot sauce.”
“It really is about trying to create dialogue and raise awareness.”
WATCH: Bif Naked talking about the welfare challenge:
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