Toonies For Tummies is a noteworthy project, it’s intent being to feed school children in Alberta, Ontario, and Atlantic Canada where these kids may not get enough to eat, or properly eat, at home.
My local Metro is participating in this program, one of many community-enhancing programs the major grocery retailer undertakes to support throughout the year. So as you go through the cash, you’re politely asked if you might consider donating a toonie to the cause. Fully 100% of the proceeds collected go directly towards putting food into school children who go under-nourished.
Nowhere does Metro plan to kick-in itself, though, other than to serve as a collection point for donations. Which is too bad.
Metro’s profits during the recession have risen to record levels while the rest of us lose ground as grocery prices continue to rise, making food security more expensive for all of us, and not just to the economically-vulnerable. The irony is that Metro contributes to the very crisis they propose to help solve. They, like other grocery retailers, crank up their prices at the very time their customers need relief from higher prices, driving vulnerable populations to the local Food Bank.
In short, Metro is part of the problem they claim to be helping to solve.
I don’t mind offering up the toonie, and already have. But, to me anyways, it takes a bit of nerve to suggest that you’re part of the solution when you’re actually part of the problem.
To be clear, I’m speaking corporate Metro, not local Metro. The locals are not the price-gougers. Those people are higher up the Metro food and excuse chain.
NEWSMAGRENFREW 