This holiday season, let's #RethinkGiving to make real change!
- Details
- Published on Tuesday, 01 December 2015 09:15
- Written by editor
T'is the season to give to others. We give our time and money because we care about those less fortunate than ourselves. And yet, BC has had one of the highest poverty rates in Canada for the last 13 years. This year, let's focus on addressing the root causes of poverty.
Together, let's #RethinkGiving and take meaningful action.
Today, we're launching our #RethinkGiving Advent Calendar. Every day until Christmas, we'll share a quote, video, fact or action that you can use to advocate for long-term solutions to poverty. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook to open the door to a new surprise each day, and share the good cheer.
Find out more at rethinkgiving.ca
Thanks!
Trish and Omar*
* Introducing our new Communications and Outreach Assistant: Omar. We were sad to see Gil move on but we're thrilled to welcome Omar to the team, and the great news is that we already know him well through all his fantastic work with our Poverty Free Action Team over the last couple of years!
Let's get to the root of the problem!
BC is one of the most generous provinces in Canada in terms of how much we give to charity.
And yet, First Call's 2015 Child Poverty Report Card released last week shows that 1 in 5 children in BC are still living in poverty – that’s 167,810, enough to fill Disneyland 4 times! It’s clearly time for a different approach.
Even BC's all-party Finance Committee agrees - this legislative committee made up of Liberal and NDP MLAs unanimously recommend a poverty reduction plan for the third year in a row!
Check out the op-ed written about this by Trish and Adrienne Montani from First Call in The Vancouver Sun.
So please join us in sharing 
the new #RethinkGiving Advent Calendar on Twitter and FaceBook. Here's Day 1 to get you started (click on image).
Our full toolkit also includes:
- Share the Weight: An upstream alternative (or supplement) to your Food Bank Drive activity plan.
- Linking “Share the Weight” activity to Ministry of Education Curriculum for teachers.
- #rethinkgiving poster, which you can put up around your community!
- Thank you card and postcard for food bank donors and students families.
- Justice not Charity lesson plan for teachers.
Food banks are necessary to address the immediate needs of people living with hunger and malnutrition. However, these services can only provide short-term relief for the downstream symptoms of poverty and we need long-term solutions that go upstream to fix its root causes. That’s why this holiday season we ask you to #rethinkgiving and go beyond charity; let’s think about achieving justice!
Go to rethinkgiving.ca for more resources, videos and ways to take action!
The BC Poverty Reduction Coalition acknowledges and honours the fact that
our communities lie on unceded Indigenous lands. Copyright © 2015 BC Poverty Reduction Coalition, All rights reserved.
You are receiving this email because you signed a BC Poverty Reduction petition, subscribed to our mailing list at bcpovertyreduction.ca, or took part in a workshop with the Coalition.
Our mailing address is:
BC Poverty Reduction Coalition1400 - 207 West Hastings StreetVancouver, British Columbia V6B 1H7 Canada
r34 r35
