'Chew on This' campaign gives Islanders food for thought on poverty

Many people walking through downtown Charlottetown Tuesday were given something to chew on during their noon-hour stroll.

Volunteers passed out paper lunch bags containing an apple and some information about poverty.

"We're asking people to really think about the problem," said Mary Boyd, the provincial co-ordinator for the PEI Coalition for a Poverty Eradication Strategy.

"Maybe the apple won't be as ripe and as nice as people would like, but you know, poverty is a bitter pill, too, and it's a sour apple for a lot of Canadians. So we're here today to pass this out and say, 'Chew on this problem. Think about it. Take it seriously and fight — fight for a poverty eradication strategy.'"

Charlottetown was one of 30 cities across Canada to hold a Chew On This event in advance of the International Day for Poverty Eradication on Oct. 17.

The aim was to have 30,000 of the lunch bags distributed across Canada on Tuesday.

Boyd said the poverty rate in P.E.I. is increasing and that child food insecurity in the province is the second-highest in the country.

"Poverty on P.E.I. increased by 26.8 per cent since 1989 when the House of Commons passed a unanimous all-party resolution to end child poverty," said Boyd.

The organizations behind the Chew on This campaign state that 19 per cent of Canadian children live in poverty.