Social justice project targets well-known citizens

Several well-known New Brunswickers are testing out the menu at their local food bank as a part of the Common Front for Social Justice's Experience Hunger campaign.

The social justice group wants to get rid of a vicious circle of poverty, hunger and poor health.

The organization is drawing attention to what people on social assistance get to eat by putting some well-known New Brunswickers on the same grocery list, such as Denis Losier, the chief executive officer of Assumption Life, Moncton Mayor George LeBlanc, Marilyn Quinn, the president of the New Brunswick Nurses Union and David Coon, the executive director of the Conservation Council.

Zane Korytko, the chief executive officer of the Moncton YMCA, said about 400 people use the organization's food bank every month.

He said he has seen the boxes of crackers, jars of peanut butter and cans of food that they receive and he's always wondered how that translates intothree meals a day.

Korytko has convinced his wife and three daughters to join him in the Experience Hunger campaign.

"It's going to give them a different perspective on how many people in the greater Moncton area are living right now," he said.

Korytko said his first impression, as he considers the food hamper, is that his family's diet is going to change dramatically over the next three days, such as having no fresh fruit or milk.

"So a lot of crackers, a lot of heavy starch that normally we wouldn't be eating on a day-to-day basis, and a lot less protein," he said.

Korytko said he is also going to take his family to a soup kitchen to supplement the frozen chicken nuggets, fries, and Oreo cookies that came in his food basket.

The Common Front for Social Justice will hold a provincial forum on poverty, hunger and health in Moncton on Wednesday.

Those who signed up for the Experience Hunger project and those who know hunger all too well will share experiences.