If you have been interested in this campaign and want to make a difference, I feel that there are many things you can do:

Pressure the government to raise the rates for those in the unfortunate situation of having to rely on Social Assistance and Food Banks.

Pressure the government for greater subsidies for organic local farms and penalties for companies that create unhealthy food so it is no longer profitable for them to stay in business.

Buy local organic food as much as possible directly from farmers at farmers markets. Or check out the many companies, like my friend, Tony's (www.wheelbarrowfarm.com) that deliver farm fresh products directly from the farm to community shared spaces for a number of months during the growing season.

Shop in small local stores, including bookshops, coffee shops and the like, instead of chain stores that take money out of communities and give nothing back. Pressure school boards to eliminate all processed and sugary food in vending machines and cafeterias.

Insist all advertisers who promote unhealthy food pay high taxes to help pay for the increased burden on the healthcare system to help those affected with diet-related illness.

And take the Do the Math challenge yourself.

Assume you have $100, no more, to spend on food for a month and go through the exercise of simply trying to survive. It will not be the same as someone on Social Assistance, but it will make you that much more aware of the challenges of drastically limited choice.

I debated when to stop this challenge. We were asked to go as long as we could with the hamper, intended for three days, but stretched by some on Social Assistance to last longer.

In the end, I ended the challenge with my mother's food. I had imagined finishing with a meal prepared by my mother in a community setting to reinforce how much we all may already do that for each other and how we can work together to extend our notions of family and community to include everyone.

I didn't stop for any of these reasons, though. I stopped because I was hungry and dizzy and malnourished. It was privilege that gave me fanciful thoughts of some poignant ending that I could choose for dramatic emphasis. But, the reality of hunger is not romantic or poetic.