"Should we collaborate?"

Ahead of Sunday's Empty Bowls event a provocative post on whether we have too many homeless charities? 

We reportedly have 3,450 communities in Canada, so should we each support those at risk of homelessness? Is there a risk that we compete with each other for donations and share of voice?

There are examples of big charities merging together. How should we collaborate?

Read the Too many Empty Bowls post here

Use hashtag #EmptyBowls2016

Use #EmptyBowls2016 across all social media

Voices from those at risk of homelessness

We can only help those at risk of homelessness by hearing from them first hand. Here are two stories with just these insights.

Two articles were published in the last week

• Putting a ‘human face’ on poverty in Hamilton: Four personal tales of struggle and hope by Joel OpHardt in The Hamilton Spectator - April 8, 2016

• Putting faces to homelessness by Laurie Snell appeared on the cover of the Kitchener Post - April 7, 2016

Click on the hyperlinks above to go to the online stories.

The Putting a 'human face on poverty in Hamilton interviews four people affected by poverty to hear the challenges they faced and have overcome. These stories were shared at a Voices from the Margins session at McMaster University's Continuing Education Centre.

Putting faces to homelessness describes work by two passionate Waterloo students Justin Chan and Konica Kochar, who have built a tremendous Facebook page called Homeless in Waterloo with real stories.  It demonstrates the power of social media in creating social change.

I encourage you to 'Like' the Homeless in Waterloo Facebook page

Congratulations to the journalists, Kitchener Post and The Hamilton Spectator for sharing these stories. Share the link to this post across your social media accounts.

Photograph reproduced with kind permission from The Hamilton Spectator.

Diagnosis: Poverty - Poverty Tool

Powerful piece relating the consequences of poverty to life expectancy and how proactive family doctors are using tools to address

Read Diagnosis: Poverty by Susan Peters in the April United Church Observer

"In Winnipeg, residents of the city’s wealthiest areas tended to live 18 years longer than residents living in the poorest areas"

 The article cites great examples of poverty tools such as Get Your Benefits in Manitoba. Peters describes how in Toronto where St Michael's Hospital has employed a team to tackle the issue.

"Effectively treating the health consequences of poverty requires more than a pamphlet. To do it properly, already cash-strapped health-care systems may have to fund a range of new programs and jobs"

Peters also refers to a 1991 study that showed an increased life expectancy for Canadian men living in higher-income neighbourhoods.

Read Diagnosis: Poverty by Susan Peters in the April United Church Observer

Susan Peters is a journalist in Winnipeg @susan_peters

It is great to see increasing media highlighting the issue and discussions the ways to address it. We  can surely only be successful through an open collaborative multi-professional approach supporting by the Provinces.