The Editor,
One of the beautiful things about living in the Tri-Cities is that people are always trying to help others, even if they don’t have that much themselves. Regular people come together to raise money, be it for school band equipment or helping refugees or feeding people at the food bank.
I am grateful to live in a community where so many people care, especially in the season of giving. One of my favourite gifts in the last few years has been to give to a charity I think would touch my loved ones.
Perhaps the best gift you can give those in need this holiday season is to write to your MLA or MP and ask them to do something about living wages so that instead of going to the food bank, a struggling single parent might be able to afford healthy food.
Perhaps we should be writing to say we need a pharmacare plan so that parents do not have to resort to crowdfunding to pay for life-saving medical treatment.
Last year, my brother-in-law received a donation to Sea Shepherd Conservation Society in his name but I think he’d rather we all had the right to a healthy environment.
As a lover of education, perhaps the best gift I can give the little girl up the street this year is to write and demand adequate public school funding so that there will still be an art program or a librarian by the time she goes to school.
This year, my Christmas wish is that we rethink charitable stop-gap measures, as much as our hearts are in the right place, and ask our public officials to give our neighbours the gift of a healthy and equitable society.
Amy Lubik, Port Moody
