This week, I’ve decided to become a financial drag on society. I’m goin’ on welfare…

Well, not really. But I am participating in Put Food in the Budget (www.putfoodinthebudget.ca), a week-long project to give regular folks an idea of what it’s like to subsist on a diet of a person on social assistance, and lobby the authorities to provide a $100 food benefit to individuals on social assistance. Locally, it’s been organized by Wasaga Cares; exec. director Amy McPherson convinced me (or perhaps conned me) to take part (for the blog of local participants, click here: http://wasagadtmc.posterous.com/)

Today is Day 1 of the challenge for me, work commitments the last day interfering with getting on board at the start. Yesterday, Amy dropped off my ‘food bank allowance’: a mix of canned goods, a jar of peanut butter, crackers, a couple of boxes of mac and cheese, a loaf of bread, and baggies of coffee, flour, salt, tea bags, and powdered milk.

Now, I seem to recall having powdered milk a long, long time ago, when I was a little kid. I don’t seem to recall appreciating the nuances of flavour of powdered milk; fortunately, I don’t drink tea with milk (or sugar, for that matter), but coffee could be a issue, as will the mac and cheese.

The coffee, by the way, is not exactly Espresso Post; it’s a brown granular material which I’m presently eying with some suspicion. I guess if I really start jonesing for some caffeine, I may have to break down and drink the stuff.

Also in my ‘grab bag’: two rolls of toilet paper, a disposable razor, and a small bar of scented soap. Now, keep in mind, while I’m only on this for a week, this is what an individual visiting the food bank may have to survive on for three weeks.

In my case, my scenario is a 33-year-old single male living in Wasaga Beach, receiving the standard Ontario Works monthly allowance of $585: with that, I have to have shelter, get to Barrie for court appointments and supervised visits with a six-year-old son, furniture, clothes for job interviews, and a phone.

Stay tuned…