Standing in the St. John’s Community Market last Thursday, the heads of First Food NL laid out its annual report and how the group plans to move forward in the face of raising food costs.
CEO, John Smee said the provinces food insecurity is not a problem that community organizations can solve.
This is a problem government’s need to take real seriously, and so part of that is keeping it in the public conversation and keep recognizing that people are going hungry in the province. Every Day.
Speaking to about 70 members of the public and stakeholder, Smee also announced the groups new mission.
“Our new vision is a N & L where everyone can eat with dignity and joy and added I think that has helped focus our minds as a team on what we need to do to make that dreams happen,” he said.
Earlier last month, Food First N.L said that will be shutting down it’s community helpline, because the advocacy organization is not being able to keep with demands. “The helpline itself just can’t work with the level of demand that we are seeing,” Smee said.
The other piece is that we are hoping to advocate as loud as we can for the large-scale relief that is what is needed to lift that demand.
Over a daylong event that included Food First NL staff speaking directly to individuals about the work they do, along with food skills workshops, Smee stressed that access to food is human rights. “A lot of the work that we have been doing for 20 years, really comes in under advancing the right to food,” Smee said.