I am writing in response to an article published in the Centretown News last week entitled “Self heating meals too costly says food bank.”
This headline is simply not true and when combined with the contents of the article only add to the confusion of the reader. The statement that four people can be fed soup kitchen meals for the price of one Hot Pack implies that the Hot Packs are being served instead of regular meals. This is simply not the case — the self heating meals are given out specifically to clients who have no other way of obtaining a hot meal. These are clients who are sleeping outside, live in a rooming house with no kitchen or have arrived at a shelter in the middle of the night when the meals program is closed.
The fact that each Hot Pack costs four times the amount of a soup kitchen meal is irrelevant as they serve a totally different purpose in the war against hunger.
As far as The Food Bank is concerned the special reduced price of $5 is well worth the cost if it means the difference between a hot nutricious meal for someone ‘on the street’ rather than some snacks or a sandwich. Because this is a special program spearheaded by the Ottawa Business Journal it has no detrimental effect on The Food Bank’s regular food distribution. No Food Bank funds have been diverted to purchase Hot Packs as it is a separate program. Why on Earth would we then say they are too expensive?
The reporter seems to have understood these facts as she quotes me and two other sources right in her article about these very differences. How she then stretched this to question if the money could have been better spent on regular food to the soup kitchen showsshe has not understood the purpose of these ‘Hot Packs’ at all.
The costs of these special meals cannot be compared to regular food as they serve a completely different purpose.
It would be a shame if this worthwhile effort by the business community was damaged due to careless and inaccurate reporting.
Colin Chalk,
The Food Bank
Hot Pack meal headline misleading
Re: Your headline “Self-heating meals too costly . . .”This is a highly inaccurate headline and damaging to a worthy cause, one that the Ottawa Business Journal and the business community have been pleased to support.
You seem to have completely missed the point with this headline. It’s absurd to say that Hot Pack meals are too costly. For one thing, they don’t cost the Food Bank anything at all because they are donated by the business community. But the more fundamental point is that Hot Pack meals are for the real hardship cases who, for various reasons, can’t get a soup kitchen meal and who will just not get a hot meal any other way.
When deciding to support this program we heard from several social agencies about the many reasons and circumstances of hardship that make it so difficult and so important to get a hot meal to the truly neediest on a cold day. They tried Hot Pack meals and concluded that they are a practical solution for the toughest cases. And, they tell us that although personal taste preferences may vary, the Hot Pack meals are being used effectively — and judiciously — to fulfill their intended purpose, i.e. a hot meal for those who otherwise won’t get one from a soup kitchen or anywhere else. Reading your article this seems to have been well explained to the reporter, but the good of it is all undone by an absurd and damaging headline.
David Luxton,
President, The Business Media Network Inc.