Jewish response to hunger

SHIRA LESTER-COHEN

Walking into a Toronto inner city elementary school lunchroom on a blustery November morning, I encountered the very cheerful scene of a large, communal breakfast in progress.

All the students from kindergarten to Grade 8 were being served a nutritious breakfast by a group of volunteers. Those children who can afford to pay the nominal fee for the meal do so and those who cannot don't, but every child at the school enjoys a hot breakfast on a cold day. This is what is meant by a universal, non-stigmatizing breakfast program.

Why is this program so important? Because if you walk into a classroom and ask all the hungry kids to raise their hands, many of the kids will raise their hands, with the exception of those who really are hungry.

Hunger is a largely hidden problem in Canada and, in the five years that I have been the executive director of Mazon Canada, A Jewish Response to Hunger, I have also found it to be a hard sell. While we are all, unfortunately, intimately aware of a variety of illnesses afflicting friends and family, most of Canadians today do not know hunger. Hunger is a consequence of poverty and there are more than 300,000 hungry children every year in Canada. Most are not Jewish children, although many Jewish kids are hungry too. In Canada, some 50,000 Jews live in poverty.

Mazon Canada was established in 1986. Mazon is a national Jewish response to hunger, not a response to Jewish hunger. We raise money primarily from the Canadian Jewish community and then we allocate these funds, non-denominationally, to organizations fighting hunger on the front lines in Canada. Mazon tends to fund organizations that are smaller, that are not multi-service and that have hunger relief as their primary directive. Mazon allocates approximately $500,000 a year. From offices in Toronto and Montreal, we have a presence in every province in Canada.

The following B.C. organizations regularly receive support from Mazon Canada: Inland Refuge Society, Jewish Assistance Association of Victoria and Vancouver Island, Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver, Harvest Food Bank, Nelson Food Cupboard Society, Sowchea Elementary School, Summerland Asset Development Initiative, Terrace Anti-Poverty Society and W.E. Graham Community Service.

As Jews, we are told that it is our responsibility to feed the hungry. In fact, Leonard Fein, the founder of Mazon in the United States, drew his inspiration for a Jewish campaign against hunger from the Passover Haggadah. We uncover the matzah and recite, "This is the bread of our affliction which our ancestors ate in the land of Egypt. All who are hungry, let them enter and eat."

It is particularly at the time of Jewish holidays that the mandate of Mazon resonates. Our celebrations are inextricably linked to the food that we eat. In my family, we couldn't imagine Rosh Hashanah without chicken soup and honey cake and we couldn't possibly break the fast after Yom Kippur without bagels, lox and cream cheese. So, when you are doing your food shopping for the coming High Holidays, remember that it is our responsibility as Jews to help feed the hungry among us. Remember that all over Canada there are children who wake up in homes where there is no food. At this time of year, we ask that you heed the call of Mazon and set aside a portion of your joy to help feed the hungry.

Shira Lester-Cohen is the executive director of Mazon Canada, mazoncanada.ca.

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