Active Learning Exercises
Lesson 10: Food Insecurity
Lesson 10: Food Insecurity
Proof Food Insecurity Policy Research
https://proof.utoronto.ca/food-insecurity/#foodinsecurity
In 2021, 6.7 million people in Canada relied on food charities, that’s roughly 18% of the population. Second Harvest, https://bit.ly/38AK58c. An important example illustrating how Covid-19 exacerbated an already existing problem, was in Toronto’s school-based nutrition programs, which over 200 000 students used daily. Online learning changed how students and their families accessed food because schools were closed. Student Nutrition Ontario works in partnership with the TDSB and the TCDSB providing food programs. They gave families a $50 grocery food card to cover breakfast for 30 days. This amounted to $1.60 for breakfast per day.
Students Going Hungry, Toronto Star
VaGa_Bon, Mencie, and Dee relied on community links to counter the devastating impact of Covid-19. VaGa_Bon used his online platform as a source of information for would-be migrants. Mencie was able to receive assistance in the form of food, medicine and Covid-19 swabs during the quarantine. Through the community she was able to secure monetary aid. Dee volunteered her time to deliver over 200 food boxes weekly to Ontario farmers. These stories demonstrate the need for and benefit of community involvement. These stories are a testament to the importance of citizen led initiatives.
Now it is your turn to play a role in helping those in need.
- As a class, identify your cause. Decide on which charity (ies) or community organization (s) you wish to fundraise for. Your campaign should focus on an issue where Covid-19 has impacted the quality of life for those affected. Your campaign may seek to raise awareness about an important local issue like Dee’s activism does; or you may choose to raise money or look to initiate a Drive.
- Find out if your school has an activity online media account. Speak directly with the administrator of your school. The goal is to maximise awareness of the campaign you wish to launch by using social media to inspire positive community involvement.
- Set a goal for your fundraiser. For example, how much money do you intend to raise? If organizing a food drive, how many non-perishable food items do you hope to collect?
- Clearly define who and what the donations will support.
- Include pictures of your fundraiser. What images do you think will help to connect with the public?
- Include simple and concise language to communicate your message. Use statistics to embolden the need for your fundraiser.
- In collaboration with your school administration, share the progress of your fundraising efforts. For example, you may want students to provide a campaign update. People like to feel involved!
- Further ideas might involve setting class targets, posting a final countdown to the end of the campaign, and providing incentives to students to increase donations. What kind of incentives do you think are appropriate given the restrictions in place due to Covid-19? What other ideas can you come up with?
- Brainstorm ways to determine how you will make the community aware of your campaign.
Note: Students will not directly post on the school’s active social media platform(s). The classroom teacher or administrator will do this in collaboration with the students.