Description

A Walk in Other’s Shoes is returning to this year’s Week of Action Against Poverty. This challenge is being undertaken by individuals in the community who have interests within the health field. Participants have been asked to attempt to stay within a social assistance benefits’ budget. A single person on Ontario Works would receive $337 monthly for all of their personal needs and $384 for all of their shelter costs. Because participants cannot replicate the housing conditions realistically, shelter costs are not included within this challenge. For the five day challenge, participants will have $11 daily to cover all food and drink, entertainment, some personal supplies and transportation costs. Each day, every participant will be given a challenge card which will reveal an unexpected challenge to be completed before the end of the day.

A Walk in Other’s Shoes is not a competitive challenge. It is a challenge that raises awareness of the hurdles that people living on social assistance face daily. As we within our community develop our own understanding, we can begin to reduce the barriers that they encounter and ultimately increase opportunities for increased prosperity for all. The challenge takes place February 10th-14th, 2018.

Monday, February 12, 2018

NO FUSS BUS

I have never been on a bus in Kenora - until today.
I took the bus to Keewatin and it was actually very fast and efficient! The bus left at 4:36 and I was at the Keewatin arena by 5:00, so I had an hour to wait before curling started. 

The drop in curling fee is $15 per time, and I was unable to find a way to cover that cost. There are many volunteers that do a lot of work to try and reduce the user fees for curling (some may have visited escape room events, serving at social functions, garage and bake sales). Despite their hard work there are still building utilities that need to be paid, and user fees cover those costs. Unfortunately I can't see how a person in poverty would be able to curl, unless they were sponsored by a business or sporting program.

My budget is now in the negatives:

$55.00 - $35.34 (groceries) + $3.00 (carts) - $5.00 (gas money) = $17.66 (from before)
$17.66 - $2.50 (bus fare) - $2.50 (gas money) - $15.00 (curling) = -$2.34

Kate Ronnebeck had some great ideas of low/no cost sporting options in her blog. I am going to keep this in mind for tomorrow because I am out of moolah! 


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