Halifax Public Libraries employees could go on strike as early as August 26, according to members of NSUPE Local 14. The union represents so
Halifax Public Libraries employees could go on strike as early as August 26, according to members of NSUPE Local 14. The union represents some 350 of the library’s workers, including librarians, library assistants, and administrative, technical, and maintenance staff. Union president Christina Covert told the Examiner members voted 82% in favour of a strike.
After seeing so many people hungry at the branches of the Halifax Public Libraries, officials are focusing on providing snacks, food education and cooking workshops.
Some other suggestions of ways to combat food insecurity and poverty:
1. Reciprocity Shelf
We had a program at my university campus in undergrad called the Reciprocity Shelf.
It was a bookshelf where you could donate non-perishable items to help members in the community who could use a little help making ends meet.
Said people in a tight spot, in turn, could take whatever donations they needed to get them through tough financial times and then pay it forward by donating what they could once they were in a better situation (kind of like the concept of “need a penny, take a penny” but for nonperishables).
It started out the same year I started attending university, so I had the opportunity to see the project grow and evolve over four years.
In the beginning, the non-perishables were all of the edible variety, but soon enough people started putting in non-edible things that could undoubtedly come in handy if your wallet is tight because they were things everyone needs.
Some of the items were used things that the donor no longer needed or never used anyway (cooking utensils, cutlery, winter gear, bike helmets, etc), while others were non-food items that everyone is always in need of (pads/tampons, paper towels, cleaning supplies, toilet paper, diapers, etc).
You could stop by the shelf multiple times a day and what was available was always different.
2. Grocery Run: A partnership with food sellers to reduce food waste & feed the hungry in 1 go
Food sellers throw as much as 30% of their product in the garbage because people won’t buy bruised veggies or items that are past their best before date, even if they are still perfectly edible.
So the Faculty of Extention at my university started a program in 2017 called Grocery Run as a solution to how to avoid good food going to waste while people go hungry:
Every week a driver drops by the participating grocery stores and picks up any perishable items that are still perfectly edible but would get chucked in a bin by the sellers for some reason. The food collected is then distributed to immigrant and refugee families who could not otherwise afford fresh food.
3. Score!
My campus also had an event each year where people from all over the community could drop off things they no longer needed, be it clothes, books, furniture, toys, appliances, what have you.
Then, on an assigned day, things would be laid out and anyone could take whatever they wanted and however much they wanted, no questions.
You could always tell who was a First Year based on how much stuff they took. First Years were always kinda shy about taking stuff, but by Fourth Year everyone would be bringing shopping bags to fill up, often taking multiple trips (I once even saw someone loading up a pile of stuff onto a wheelie chair to push like a shopping cart! lol).
The local community would always make a point of stopping by to see if there was anything they wanted.
In the end, the leftover stuff would be donated to local homeless shelters, women’s shelters, the Reciprocity Shelf, and thrift stores so that nothing went to waste.
Photo of the Halifax Central Library by Carla Antonio - from No shushing, please, Michael Fraiman, Maclean’s Magazine
The article itself sounds like it was written by somebody who has barely ever visited a library in the last 10 years (”makers’ space”), but the photos are nice.
The new Halifax Central Library is a reflection of a more modern approach to libraries; as a central hub for learning and interaction. Some have bemoaned the fact that the library isn’t full of books but I think this is actually ones of its strong points. You only need to spend a short amount of time before you realize this space is multipurpose from learning seminars, fieldtrips, coffee dates,…
A public library is probably as important as a church today or even more important than a city hall because it’s the people building and everyone can come there
We're inching closer and closer to our goal of $1,000 in donations for the new Halifax Central Library! Nimbus is matching every single dollar donated, which means if you donate $10, it's really like you're donating $20!
Click here for more information on how to get your donation matched, and help us SHARE THE WOW!
Together, we can donate $2,000 for a bigger and better collection of books for Halifax's voracious readers. Let's do it!
