Social Justice Update

John 21:17 

The third time he said to him, "Simon son of John, do you love me?" Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, "Do you love me?" He said, "Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you." Jesus said, "Feed my sheep."

At our annual general meeting on the 1st of March, Anna challenged us to look outward, to find a Social Justice issue in which we could truly make a difference and in which the whole congregation could be engaged.

We began this search at Conversations, the time we spend together after our Sunday Service.  In the first couple of sessions we developed criteria that we felt this issue should meet. (You can find these criteria on our St. Laurence website (www.stlaurence.ca) under Announcements.)

Then we began looking at issues.  Each week we seemed to come back to issues that fell under the broad category of Food Security. Feeding people; feeding Jesus' sheep.

If you Google Food Security, you come up with approximately 316 million results or "hits". Food Security in Canada gives you about 258 million hits, Food Security in Alberta produces slightly over 2 million hits and Food Security in Calgary does even better at 2.23 million hits! Who knew?  Clearly many people have been working on Food Security issues for many years.

So how do we define Food Security? Naturally there are several definitions out there going back to 1974 when the issue was first recognized. The World Food Summit of 1996 defined food security as existing "when all people at all times have access to sufficient, safe, nutritious food to maintain a healthy and active life".

Since then the definition has been expanded and most groups now use this definition:  Food Security exists "when all people, at all times, have physical, social and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food which meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life."

Our parish has a history of working in this area both in "food aid" (feeding those around us who are hungry right now) and, through PWRDF, working on longer term projects both in Canada and around the world.

Where are we now?  We're moving forward on two fronts: learning more about the complex problem of Food Security and the many issues embedded in it; and looking for that one project or issue that we can tackle together and make a measurable difference.

What are our next steps?  This month we'll hear from Alison Longson about some of PWDF's initiatives, some of us will continue to go to meetings and workshops to learn more and to connect with others who are working on Food Security, and we will continue to look for that one project where we can all pitch in and make a difference. In the fall, we hope to bring in some speakers to Conversations to share what they've learned and what they have been doing.

At the end of this month, in deference to our short summer season, our Conversations sessions will take their own summer break. In the meantime, plan to attend Sharing Bread: A Food Security Learning Exchange sponsored by the PWRDF, Canadian Foodgrains Bank and the Anglican Diocese of Calgary (see the poster in the Narthex), spend some time surfing the internet to learn more (some of my favourite links are below), join our Food Bank volunteers or the sandwich makers, or grow some vegetables in your own garden or a community garden.

Links:

1. Did you know that the City of Calgary developed Food System Assessment and Action plan in 2012?  You can find it here

2. This next link is an important one.  Check out their Advocacy and Policy category. They are also looking to hire a full-time organizer to ensure Food Security becomes an issue in fall Federal election.

www.foodsecurecanada.org/

 3. And finally, check out what's happening in Alberta

www.foodsecurityalberta.org/