A paper lunch bag program is aiming to give people some real food for thought about hunger.
The Chew on This! campaign took place in 80 communities across the country Tuesday, including three in Cape Breton, to mark the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty.
"We're asking people to have a little snack, because there's a granola bar in there, and there's lots of really great information on poverty,” says Helen Morrison of the Cape Breton Transition House. “You can chew on the information while you're chewing on your snack."
For some of the people being handed the bags in downtown Sydney, the message hits close to home.
"I know a lot of people who are living in poverty. I even get a poverty cheque that comes in the mail," says Sydney resident Blaine Poirier.
Anti-poverty groups serving up the bags say they see the all-too-real impact of hunger each and every day.
"People calling, saying they don't have breakfast. They'll keep the kids home from school because they don't want to send them without their breakfast," says Wanda Earhart of the Every Woman's Centre.
But despite numbers that show roughly one in three Cape Breton children live below the poverty line, some people didn't want to sink their teeth into the topic on Tuesday.
"We've already had people go by that, they didn't want to talk about it. It was kind of like an intrusion to ask them to even have the conversation at the table," says Earhart.
The bags also include a postcard that can be sent to parliament as a bit of food for thought.
"If we get enough people texting and writing and emailing, then someone is going to say, 'We need to address this issue,'" says Morrison.
With files from CTV Atlantic’s Ryan MacDonald.
