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8 • WATERLOO CHRONICLE • THURSDAY, APRIL 20, 2017 WATERLOO CHRONICLE 630 Riverbend Drive, Unit 104 Kitchener, Ontario N2K 3S2 519-579-7166 Fax: 519-579-2029 www.waterloochronicle.ca Donna LUELO PUBLISHER EDITORIAL Bob VRBANAC EDITOR ext. 2305 editorial@waterloochronicle.ca bvrbanac@waterloochronicle.ca Adam JACKSON REPORTER ext. 2308 Twitter: @KWAdamJ ajackson@waterloochronicle.ca Samantha BEATTIE REPORTER ext. 2229 Twitter: @Samantha_KB sambeattie@waterloochronicle.ca ADVERTISING 519-579-7166 Ted ANDERSON, 579-7166 REGIONAL AD MANAGER tanderson@waterloochronicle.ca SALES LEAD Michelle STEVENS, ext. 2232 mstevens@waterloochronicle.ca SALES REPRESENTATIVE Cassandra DELLOW, ext. 2306 cdellow@waterloochronicle.ca SALES REPRESENTATIVE Aaron MURRAY, ext. 2304 amurray@waterloochronicle.ca CLASSIFIED 1-800-263-6480 CIRCULATION 519-894-3000 Canadian Publications Mail Sales Publication Agreement Number 40050478 International Standard Serial Number ASSN 0832-3410 Audited Circulation: 31,292 The Waterloo Chronicle is published each Thursday by Metroland Media Group Ltd. ONTARIO PRESS COUNCIL The Waterloo Chronicle is a member of The Ontario Press Council, which considers complaints against mem- ber newspapers. Any complaint about news, opinions advertising or conduct should first be taken to the newspaper. Unresolved complaints can be brought to: Ontario Press Council, 2 Carlton Street, Suite 1706, Toronto, ON., M5B 1J3. COPYRIGHT The contents of this newspaper are protected by copyright and may be used only for personal non-com- mercial purposes. All other rights are reserved and commercial use is pro- hibited. To make any use of this mate- rial you must first obtain the permis- sion of the owner of the copyright. For further information contact Bob Vrbanac, Managing Editor, Waterloo Chronicle, 630 Riverbend Drive, Suite 104, Kitchener, Ontario N2J 3H8. LETTERS POLICY Letters to the editor must contain the writer's full name, address and tele- phone number. Addresses and tele- phone numbers are used only for veri- fication purposes. Names will not be withheld. We reserve the right to edit, condense or reject any contribution for brevity or legal purposes. Letters may be submitted by email to editorial@water- loochronicle.ca. Suburban Newspapers of America VIEWPOINT WATERLOO CHRONICLE CHRONICLE EDITORIAL We managed to sur-vive the big Easter Sunday dinner with a guest list of 22 people and with the trusty family stove on the fritz. It started out a lot more modest than that. Originally, my wife Tara had only invited her family, but since this was the first Easter since my dad passed away she decided to call both sides of the family over for dinner. Th e only problem was how to cook all that food with the most essential appliance, our stove, unwilling to co-operate. Th e timer on the stove wasn't working and when we called in the repair guy to fix it he said it would cost us $600. It would be cheaper to get a new stove. We decided we'd just use a stopwatch and our micro- wave timer until we could fi nd a long-term solution, but what we didn't realize was the timer was also attached to our stove's central processing unit. Th at meant it no longer would reliably hold the temperature anymore. It would blink out and sometimes not bake what we had in the oven at all. The last straw came the week before Easter when it took Tara 45 minutes to make a couple of frozen pizzas. Th e box said it should have only taken 20 minutes. So in a panicked state with Easter and all those people coming over, we decided it was time for a new stove. Luckily, we found a great deal for a beautiful stove with a convection oven and a griddle we could use right on top of the range. It was way more "fancy shmancy" than our old stove and would handle a ham, turkey and schnitzel no problems. There was one problem. We couldn't get the stove delivered until after Easter. And there was no way Peter Cottontail would have one in his Easter basket. Luckily, my mom stepped up like she always does and roasted the turkey and pre- pared the schnitzel in her home and brought them over. We wanted her to take a break on the cooking but she just doesn't know how to say "No." My back up plan was to barbecue the ham on my gas grill outside if the oven decid- ed to fi nally give up the ghost. But, it must have realized it was its last roast as it dutifully turned out a succulent ham. Easter was saved. We're calling Habitat for Humanity's Restore this week to see if they can't salvage some parts from it, or even get it working again. If not, it will go out with the delivery guys bringing our new stove. This is where I would get sentimental, but it's just a stove, even if it did help create a lot of memories at our dinner table over the years. But I'm also hopeful that my wife Tara fi nally stops burning the pizza in the new one. Bon voyage. Easter dinner saved by one last supper A lot of us celebrated the high holy days this past weekend with a feast. There probably was enough food to go around and leftovers to boot. It was a time to celebrate good food, good friends and fam- ily, and good times. But while there were many of us who didn't go wanting, there are still a lot of our people in our community who can't afford the basics of what you would normally find in Canada's nutritious food basket. Food prices have spiked by 15 per cent over the past few years, whereas real wages and other benefits haven't kept pace. Even worse, those receiving government assistance have been out- distanced by this food inflation making it harder to get the basic building blocks to good health. A single parent with two kids on Ontario receives $2,000 a month. For the family to eat according to Canada's Food Guide recommendation, they would have to spend a third of that income on food. That percentage grows even steeper if you're a family of four with 40 per cent of your income need to meet nutritional require- ments. A single person on Ontario Works, renting a local bachelor apartment that averages a $700 a month, would find it even more difficult with only $68 left over for food and other expenses. And when it comes down to a decision between food and lodging, most people choose to put a roof over their head and face greater food insecurity. Families and individuals who deal with the impacts of food insecurity face an increased risk of chronic disease and poor men- tal health. When you're worried about where your next meal is coming from there's not much else left to worry about. It becomes a vicious cycle that is hard to escape and needs action during provincial budget time to make sure that benefits received match the needs in the community. Still a lot of need out there BOBBY'S WORLD BOB VRBANAC