Welcome to Valueof5!
Please take a minute to read through the website and learn some basic but crucial information about poverty and homelessness in Canada. Please note that at no point will you be asked for money. This campaign is purely about awareness and acknowledging your power as a citizen. You are encouraged to share this information with any person willing to listen.
By visiting Valueof5, you have already taken a step in the right direction. Please post questions and generate discussions through this network.
Come back often as the site will be updated with news articles and relevant information.
Thanks again for visiting!
Please take a minute to read through the website and learn some basic but crucial information about poverty and homelessness in Canada. Please note that at no point will you be asked for money. This campaign is purely about awareness and acknowledging your power as a citizen. You are encouraged to share this information with any person willing to listen.
By visiting Valueof5, you have already taken a step in the right direction. Please post questions and generate discussions through this network.
Come back often as the site will be updated with news articles and relevant information.
Thanks again for visiting!
About the Project
As part of my Alternative Media class for my Media and the Public Interest degree, each student was asked to create a project. The purpose of the project was to use alternative media to project a message. Homelessness and poverty was chosen as my area of focus because I wanted to get away from the stigma of “people on the street” and humanize the issue for citizens. I want to empower ordinary citizens like myself to get educated and engage in their political system.
The project started with the idea of $5 and how it means different things to different people. I began by creating this blog and writing the URL on a bunch of $5 bills which I then put into circulation throughout London and the GTA.
The next step was to create a flyer which you can see my clicking the "Pay it Forward" button above. The flyer was sent out to as many people as I could afford to send it out to. The idea was to read the page and then pass it on to someone else, thereby circulating the message of awareness.
The final piece was using Facebook. I did not want to use Facebook as my primary means because it is too easy. I decided I would wait until the final weeks of my project to start bombarding my friends with the link. This seemed to be the most effective way to reach people after all.
The project started with the idea of $5 and how it means different things to different people. I began by creating this blog and writing the URL on a bunch of $5 bills which I then put into circulation throughout London and the GTA.
The next step was to create a flyer which you can see my clicking the "Pay it Forward" button above. The flyer was sent out to as many people as I could afford to send it out to. The idea was to read the page and then pass it on to someone else, thereby circulating the message of awareness.
The final piece was using Facebook. I did not want to use Facebook as my primary means because it is too easy. I decided I would wait until the final weeks of my project to start bombarding my friends with the link. This seemed to be the most effective way to reach people after all.
Why Poverty and Homelessness?
When I was 14 years old, I took a tour of a local food bank before an event. The purpose of the tour was to show us how the bank works, but my heart was broken at the sight of the many empty shelves. I couldn’t believe this food bank which served a good portion of the local community was so bare. So began Community Cupboard.
Community Cupboard began as a drive within my family’s church to collect hygiene products. While the food bank did everything they could to put food on the shelves, I couldn’t help but notice how basic items like toilet paper, diapers, toothbrushes and feminine hygiene products were missing. This project spun into a full fledged weekly food drive in the church community and our neighbourhood.
Each month, we would call the food bank and find out what their most needed items were. These items would then be sent out to all of our participants. Each week, neighbours would drop food off on our porch and church members would bring food on Sundays. The project became a regular, steady initiative the food bank knew they could rely on.
As I grew older, my mom took over Community Cupboard adding two community meals (lunch on Tuesdays, breakfast on Thursdays) which she prepares and serves herself. Community Cupboard became less of a project and more of a social time. There is no distinction between the volunteers and the food bank users; in fact, many food bank users are volunteers. Anyone is welcome and my mom ensures there are lots of leftovers to distribute.
Growing up with the food bank as a high priority, I have been drawn to the politics behind poverty and the systems which often hold citizens victim.
