I haven’t bought food in a month. In order to eat, I depend on drop in centres and the food bank. I get $560 a month from Ontario Works (OW). Four-hundred fifty dollars goes to rent for a room in a rooming house. That leaves me with less than $100, which is pretty much gone in less than 24 hours. That money goes toward a string of small debts I owe people, and toiletries and laundry. Then, I wait for another month. There is not enough money left over for anything. The cost of food is rising. Even the foods that poor people can afford have been rising like 30%. Without drop-ins and Daily Bread, I don’t know how I would eat. Having these supports enables you to get better quality food than you would if you were eating, say, macaroni and cheese all the time. What is also important, though, is that when you go to a drop-in, it breaks the isolation. When you don’t have money, there are a lot of things that you cannot do, and going there gives me social contact that otherwise I would not have had. It is very important to break that isolation. Being poor and feeling isolated is very, very depressing. It doesn’t do a lot for your motivation. There are basic ridiculous choices you have to make all the time. You can’t meet expectations by OW, let alone by society. You can’t
manage psychologically, as your mental health is compromised. You can’t do it financially, because you can’t afford to wash your clothes even if you have managed to afford to buy some. And you can’t manage socially as you’re cut off – you can’t network, you can’t even afford a phone.

Phones aren’t only for socializing. You also need a phone to get a job. While job search is easy with a computer, they need to be able to call you. If I go to a phone store, they want a $200 deposit. It just cannot be done. If you have less than perfect credit, they make you pay the deposit. Getting a cell phone, even a used one, is also difficult. The cost to start up is about $50, and maintaining it is very expensive. I basically use my cell phone as an answering machine. If I need to make phone calls, I go to this community center where they have free phones, but it is only available for two hours a day. If they leave a message, you have to go back there during those hours to check. Because of this, it took me two months to make an appointment with my OW worker.