The Chew On This program held an event this past week in Portage la Prairie. Southern Health-Santé Sud Healthy Living Facilitator Maureen Owens says it's a national campaign raising awareness of food insecurity through a national anti-poverty plan. She notes it's not so much actually taking action but informing people about the situation.

"We have these little bags and inside them are information," explains Owens. "There's a magnet, there's a postcard which people can send in to Justin Trudeau. And the idea behind that is there's a request for an anti-poverty plan from the federal government. We're also bringing awareness for poverty in Portage la Prairie."

Owens says she represents the Community Food Matters committee in Portage while she also works for Southern Health-Santé Sud. As a committee, they're a group of stakeholders who work with those in our city who don't have enough food from week to week, or month to month.

"We ordered about 200 of them, and we stuffed the bags," adds Owens. "We put some pears and apples in the bag, too. Then we each took a number of them and we just distributed them throughout our community. We took some to some businesses to place in their lunchrooms for employees. Some people dropped them off when they were going to get a coffee at Tim Horton's, and a variety of other places."

She adds if you'd like to donate food, including produce or anything packaged and purchased in a store, you can drop it off at the Salvation Army. Owens notes they'll ensure the food is stored and refrigerated if necessary, and then organize it to be distributed to the various agencies throughout town.

Their Facebook page is here: Community Food Matters.