{"id":7248,"date":"2014-07-02T17:19:30","date_gmt":"2014-07-02T21:19:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=7248"},"modified":"2014-07-02T17:19:30","modified_gmt":"2014-07-02T21:19:30","slug":"dont-throw-the-baby-out-with-the-bath-water-cautions-food-pantry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/dont-throw-the-baby-out-with-the-bath-water-cautions-food-pantry\/","title":{"rendered":"Don’t throw the baby out with the bath water, cautions Food Pantry"},"content":{"rendered":"

I would like to respond to the article in the June 26, 2014 edition of the Auroran, \u201cFood advocates decide it\u2019s time to consider other options on the shelf.\u201d
\nThe Aurora Food Pantry did not participate in the York Region Food Network\u2019s panel discussion entitled, \u201cHave Food Banks Reached Their Best Before Date.\u201d We felt the panel\u2019s title reflected a bias and was insulting to the community of Aurora citizens, churches, schools, businesses, organizations and volunteers that have supported the Aurora Food Pantry for over 20 years.
\nIt\u2019s a catchy title, but misplaced.
\nLate in the article, Joan Stonehocker states, \u201cOur intention is not to go out and shut down food banks\u2026\u201d but attitudes like hers are potentially hurtful to the functioning of the Aurora Food Pantry. I\u2019m absolutely sure that those who know us would be unaffected by the \u201cbest before date\u201d comments. However, Ms. Stonehocker\u2019s views can possibly harm attracting new support in both donations and volunteers.
\nFood banks are not a solution to the problem of food insecurity. I don\u2019t think anyone connected with the Aurora Food Pantry would ever espouse the idea that we are anything but a community safety valve. Having a client representing a family of four leave the AFP with five or six grocery bags after their monthly visit is hardly a solution to the problems that brought them to us.
\nAnd, the poverty, or illness, or unemployment, or misfortune of these people is now — not in the future. The social justice activism mentioned in the article is admirable. Raising guaranteed income levels in our country to the point where everyone has food security is something to strive for \u2013 and we praise the efforts of the panellists mentioned.
\nOn the other hand, I am uncomfortable with Ms. Stonehocker\u2019s cry to arms, being \u201c\u2026 impatient with the changes that we do or don\u2019t see in our community surrounding hunger and poverty and it\u2019s time to get provocative.\u201d What does she mean by this? Does she have an agenda? She states, \u201cThere have been a lot of things that have gotten us to this place and now moving on is what we need to think about.\u201d What does she mean?
\nLet\u2019s debate the best routes to take to achieve common goals co-operatively.<\/p>\n

Ray Buchowski
\nSecretary, Aurora Food Pantry
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I would like to respond to the article in the June 26, 2014 edition of the Auroran, \u201cFood advocates decide it\u2019s time to consider other options on the shelf.\u201d The Aurora Food Pantry did not participate in the York Region Food Network\u2019s panel discussion entitled, \u201cHave Food Banks Reached Their Best Before Date.\u201d We felt […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[30],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7248","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-letters-opinion"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-1SU","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-10 23:40:07","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7248","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7248"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7248\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7248"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7248"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7248"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}