Event Description:

“Gratitude is one of a few noble qualities that bring inner peace, joy, appreciation for life, and keeps us closely connected to our hearts.”

For a fourth year in a row, we held a Thanksgiving Food Drive and collected over 350lbs of food for the Daily Bread Food Bank.

The Daily Bread’s 2011 Hunger Statistics for the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) were presented and many were surprised that over 1 million people within the GTA visited the food banks in 2011. It was noted that many go hungry due to lack of income and 72% of the income earned by people visiting food banks was spent on housing costs (rent and utilities).

In addition, a presentation on the Definition of Poverty was given, highlighting David Gordon’s paper, “Indicators of Poverty and Hunger” which defines absolute poverty as the absence of any two of the eight basic needs (food, health, sanitation facilities, safe drinking water, shelter, education, information and access to services).

A discussion on the chapter “Gratitude” from Srinivas Arka’s book Adventures of Self-Discovery then took place with some commenting they had never realized that by having gratitude, they can grow, expand and benefit in so many ways.