Tag Archives: mutual aid

CKMS Community News, Newsroom

CKMS News -2024-03-31- The Free Weekly Distro fills a need and “shares the bounty”

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CKMS News -2024-03-31- The Free Weekly Distro fills a need and “shares the bounty”

by: dan kellar

Waterloo – As the cost of living crisis continues and the effects of high housing costs remain at the forefront of many discussions, record high food prices remain an important issue.

Since the fall of 2020, LSPIRG and Martin Luther University College have run a project out of the college, called “The Free Weekly Distro“, offering free food and basic home items to anyone who needs them. While the project’s webpage states The Distro started in response to “the serious level of food insecurity that was compounded due to COVID-19 unemployment and existing services being closed”, the mutual aid effort continues weekly as food costs have continued to rise.

This show features an Interview with Tavia Weber, the Distro Program Development and Partnerships Coordinator at Luther. Weber talks about the program’s origin, the effects of the high cost of living on students, and the massive growth in the program’s use. 

CKMS Community News, Newsroom, Shows

CKMS News – 2021-06-15 – Waterloo Region Weekly Roundup – A Better Tent City update

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Host: Melissa Bowman

Today’s Waterloo Region Weekly Roundup episode focuses on two weeks of discussions at Woolwich council regarding the possibility of A Better Tent City moving to a new proposed location on Spitzig Rd.

A Better Tent City is the community of residents currently housed in tiny homes at Lot 42 in Kitchener. They must find a new home by June 20th and have found a willing landlord through the Hamilton Diocese with their land on Spitzig Rd. Tune in to hear more about the proposal, thoughts from residents who support this and those who oppose it, and also the discussion among councillors.

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This program is a part of the “Local Journalism Initiative” grant program and is funded by the Community Radio Fund of Canada, the Government of Canada, and the CKMS Newsroom.

Check out the archived versions of  this program and other episodes on radiowaterloo.ca/news., and other stories commissioned under the Local Journalism Initiative at canada-info.ca.

You can  follow us on twitter @RadioWaterloo. If you want to get in touch with comments, or ideas about stories to cover, email us at news@radiowaterloo.ca

CKMS Community News, Newsroom, Shows

CKMS News – 2021-06-03 – The 519 Community Collective gifted a large donation and a permanent kitchen space

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Host: Trish Holmes

The 519 Community Collective, an example of mutual aid that this show examined back in March, has been gifted $15,000 worth of a fridge and freezer from Shopify.

In addition the Collective has been invited to set up kitchen at the Immanuel Pentecostal Church, giving them a dedicated work space, storage facilities, and out of Julie Savatsky’s kitchen.

In this edition of CKMS News, I talk to Julie Sawatsky of the 519 Community Collective and Pastor David Wilkinson of Immanuel Pentecostal Church.

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This program is a part of the “Local Journalism Initiative” grant program and is funded by the Community Radio Fund of Canada, the Government of Canada, and the CKMS Newsroom.

Check out the archived versions of  this program and other episodes on radiowaterloo.ca/news., and other stories commissioned under the Local Journalism Initiative at canada-info.ca.

You can  follow us on twitter @RadioWaterloo. If you want to get in touch with comments, or ideas about stories to cover, email us at news@radiowaterloo.ca

 

CKMS Community News, Newsroom, Shows

CKMS News – 2021-03-29 – It Takes A Village

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Host: Trish Holmes

On today’s show are interviews with two different types of mutual aid and one interview with a charity.

The first interview is with the local chapter of Hockey Helps the Homeless, a long-standing charitable organization that raises money on behalf of local agencies.

The second interview is with Julie Sawatzky who started the 519 Community Collective during the dark days of the pandemic.

And finally, Father Toby Collins speaks about the affordable takeout dinner service started at St Mary’s Catholic Church in downtown Kitchener. Both last two are examples mutual aid within the community.

Each interview covers how the projects function, how they came to be, important initiatives, and ways to volunteer.

A picture with text. The picture is planks of wood, tightly placed beside each other. On the top right is a plate of food salad with arugula and tomatoes. There are two wooden spoons beside the plate sitting on a gingham cloth. in Green text in the middle of the page is "519 Community Pantries" and below that in white text is "Take what you need. Leave what you can."
Used with permission from 519 Community Pantries.

This program is a part of the “Local Journalism Initiative” grant program and is funded by the Community Radio Fund of Canada, the Government of Canada, and the CKMS Newsroom. You can access the archives of this show on radiowaterloo.ca/news or on the national LJI website.

The music on today’s show has been ‘Fat Cartoon Jazz’ by Purple Planet Music .

The accompanying photograph was obtained from truthseeker08 on Pixabay.com.

 

CKMS Community News, Newsroom, Shows

CKMS News – 2021-03-25 – The KW Community Fridge is solidarity through mutual aid

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Host: Trish Holmes

In 2019,  10% of households in Waterloo Region experienced food insecurity. That’s close to 20,000 people struggling to provide food for themselves or their family, and these numbers most certainly increased during 2020. Food charities, such as the Food Bank, are underfunded and oversubscribed. Despite good efforts, hunger in our community persists. With an appreciation of the complex nature of hunger,  groups of individuals are stepping up to help their neighbours and fill in the gaps.

A group of Waterloo Region residents recently started a community fridge to facilitate access to high quality food and to reduce food waste in the area.

The KW Community Fridge sits at the back entrance of Full Circle Foods in downtown Kitchener at 3 Charles St West and is the first of its kind in this Region. We talked to Kamil Ahmed, one of the organizers, about the fridge and how it is going.

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This program is a part of the “Local Journalism Initiative” grant program and is funded by the Community Radio Fund of Canada, the Government of Canada, and the CKMS Newsroom. You can access the archives of this show on radiowaterloo.ca/news or on the national LJI website.

The music on today’s show has been ‘Fat Cartoon Jazz’ by Purple Planet Music .