SUNDAY, FEB. 10TH

An interesting morning; oatmeal for breakfast, and then off to church, bringing my Daily Challenge Card with me to see if I could stir up some conversation.

My Challenge: "You are working a minimum wage job and are receiving a working benefit from Ontario Works.  No one at your workplace knows.  Your colleagues are trash talking "welfare bums". Will you respond to the talk?"

I tried to start the conversation off about "welfare bums" by asking if anyone realized that the monthly rate for Ontario Works (i.e. welfare recipients) was $733 per month, and that the basic needs allowance works out to about $63 for a five day period.  I explained that by taking the Poverty Challenge, I was going to attempt to survive on $63 for a five day period, meaning $63 to cover utilities, personal supplies, transportation, entertainment, and of course, food.

It was difficult to get the conversational ball rolling in my direction, but the direction it DID go in was interesting. What I learned was that the Province of Ontario legislates $9.54 (!) per day for food for long-term care residents, and $18.00 (!) per day for food for inmates in provincial jails. The conclusion: it's better to be in jail than in long-term care!

Shopping yesterday was scary. I'm embarrassed to admit that it's been a long time since I read through a grocery store flyer from cover to cover. It helped a lot to prepare for shopping, so when I went through the checkout line with my $30.00, the total came to $29.00! Whew! I have a menu list made up for the five days, so I'm hoping that's going to work out according to plan!  The conclusion coming out of this exercise is that when it comes to shopping and meal preparation, I've been far too lazy for far too long!