HALIFAX — Halifax residents are fasting on Wednesday to raise awareness about hunger.
The fast is part of a national event called Give It Up For Hunger, part of National Hunger Awareness week.
“Really what we want people to do is to understand what the issues are for the families that have to use food banks, shelters and soup kitchens,” says Diane Swinemar, the director of Feed Nova Scotia. “So we’re asking people to give up something this week to acknowledge what it’s all about.”
Swinemar is one of several people who will fast from 8:00 am Wednesday morning until 8:00 a.m. Thursday. “No I’m not looking forward to it” she says. “I love my coffee and I love my muffin in the morning, but it’s just such a small thing to do, to say I’m trying to understand what the people are going through that we’re trying to feed every day.”
Two Halifax city councillors, Jennifer Watts, district 8 and Matt Whitman, district 13, have already fasted for 24 hours.
“It was a very helpful reminder for me of what it means not to eat, especially in this community where there’s lots of food available everywhere, but not to be able to have that opportunity to eat is really hard,” says Watts.
Whitman said he went without food on Monday and had suffered stomach pains.
“Serious pains, like to sort of feel that for a day,” he says. “Just imagine someone might go days or a week without a meal. It’s just really a big issue.”
Both councillors say going hungry on Monday had its side effects, besides the hunger pains.
“Trying to get through the day, being cranky, tired and short attention span, ” says Watts. “Like that’s just such a drain on our whole community because it means kids and adults they can’t function in a way that contributes to the community because if you don’t have enough food it’s hard to be focused.”
Swinemar says often times it’s moms that go without food to make sure their family gets enough to eat.
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