Soup and cookies

We're in the homestretch now. I'm so grateful to my wife Karen who chose to make peanut butter cookies using the recipe on the side of the jar. One cup pb, one half cup sugar and one precious egg mixed together, separated into balls and baked. Delicious. The snack we needed. But even they are being rationed to last until Friday. We're down to just a few crumbs of cereal, a few drops of milk, a quarter cup of oatmeal and four slices of bread for breakfast. There's still one box of kd and tuna for supper tomorrow. There is absolutely no way the food would have lasted an entire week for our family of four. If we had not supplemented the kids lunches with our own food this week, we'd be eating rice, rice and rice for breakfast, lunch and dinner. (We still have a half bag of rice left.)

For whatever reason, I still am feeling fine. My wife however is sharing in the headaches and discomfort so many of you have blogged about. The children, not thrilled with our family dinners, forge on with their enhanced lunches.

The highlight of this experience for me occurred today: my visit to the food kitchen with my colleague at CBC, John Gaudi, who is also participating in the challenge. After enjoying a hot bowl of soup, meat on a bun and small sweet, we struck up a conversation with a few of our fellow diners. I brought along my tape recorder to record their thoughts on the food challenge. As people who rely on social assistance, I asked them what they thought about a bunch of Sudburians eating a food bank diet for seven days. Kim said we should all try it for 90 days. That's when you would truly feel what it's like to be on social assistance. Imagine. My conversation with Kim will be on Morning North Thursday at 8:15 (unless the lineup has changed since I left this afternoon). That conversation, along with a chat I had with Elvis will be posted on the Morning North website under audio features later tomorrow. I was moved by their honesty and willingness to share their stories.