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It all starts with food

Those five words sum up the main message of PWRDF’s three-year food security campaign called Fred Says, named for then President of the Board, Archbishop of Canada, Primate Fred Hiltz. Without food, people don’t have good health, can’t learn in school or work effectively.

Passionate about the work of PWRDF, Hiltz calls it “one of the best good news stories of the Anglican Church of Canada.” So when asked to be the face of the campaign, he didn’t hesitate to say yes. The goal was to move people to understand food security as being the availability of food and one’s access to it, and the mission of PWRDF in ensuring that people and communities have enough good, healthy food to eat.

Through a series of ads called “Fredisms,” promotional and educational resources, videos highlighting partner stories and volunteer engagement, Hiltz’s message resounded with the constituency and beyond. New Fredisms were promoted every two months and linked to a PWRDF project. People were invited to learn more online and in the Church about the issue of food security and the work of PWRDF and its partners. People donated and hosted events to raise awareness of the importance of food in the lives of every person around the world. For those wanting to “dig deeper” into food security issues, PWRDF developed the Sharing Bread Learning Exchange, three courses and learning resources, along with “Hunger is Not a Game,” an education resource for young people.

From the first Fredism “Have you Eaten Today?” to the 5As of Food Security, Fred encouraged all of us to learn more about those whose lives were affected by a lack of good food.

Sifa Naru, a widow in Mozambique, stopped taking the anti-retroviral drugs (ARVs) to control her AIDS because she didn’t have food to take them with which is very hard on the system. Her story inspired PWRDF to step in and provide food packets to Sifa and hundreds of other patients to help them get back on their feet after being diagnosed with HIV.