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A not-so-sweet idea?
Critics question charity's practice of sending Halloween candy overseas
The National Post, October 23, 2008
In a warehouse in Mississauga, Helen McGuire, executive director of Canadian Food for Children, gives a pitch to a class of visiting Grade 10 Catholic school students about an unorthodox campaign the charity runs to help feed the world's poor.
"Every year, we collect Halloween candy," she says. "Sometimes high school students collect it from people they know. For children in developing countries, a little bit of Halloween candy makes them feel like it's Christmas day and their birthday at the same time."
It is a persuasive pitch; one that is taken up each year by about 100 elementary and high schools in Ontario and British Columbia that enlist their students to donate a portion of their Halloween candy to send to developing countries in Africa, Central America and Asia.
But it is an idea that runs counter to the practices and philosophies of many other aid organizations, which argue that shipping leftover candy to the world's poorest is at best a token gesture and at worst a waste of time and money.
While proponents of the practice say it is a concrete way to teach children the benefits of giving, those against it say such i n consequential handouts do not foster change, and can in fact be harmful.
"Candy is not nutritionally complete. Some kids, particularly those who are malnourished and starving, have a very difficult time processing high-sugar foods. They need foods that are much more nutritionally complete, like rice, maize or wheat," said Samantha Nutt, of War Child Canada, a nonprofit organization that supports war-affected children in Africa and Asia.
She did not want to comment directly on the charitable efforts of Canadian Food for Children, but said she has doubts about the nutritional or other value of giving candy to malnourished children.
"Handouts fill that short-term void, but they don't fundamentally change anything," she said. "You want to be in a situation where you're fostering change, where you're investing in those communities to be able to help themselves. It's never ever as simple as just handing somebody something."
Yet Brian Finamore, a chaplain at St. Paul's Secondary School in Mississauga who organizes his school's candy collection for the charity, says the drive teaches Canadian kids that they can help the poor.
"It gives young people an opportunity to share in a very concrete way. Young people are amazed that an item such as candy that is considered a treat here in Canada can have a medicinal value, helping to stimulate the appetite of starving children. A better world is only a tiny box of Smarties away."
The annual drive to collect Halloween candy and send it to developing countries was started by a group of students in Mississauga more than 10 years ago.
The Halloween candy is shipped in freight containers along with other items the charity collects from donors year-round: toys, clothes, books and non-perishable food. Some corporations donate large boxes of food, such as muffins and pretzels. About 450 containers are sent each year, with the shipping costs paid for with cash donations given to the charity, which was founded in the mid-'80s by dermatologist Andrew Simone. When the goods arrive at their destination, missionaries distribute the candy and the other goods to local families.
In a room above Canadian Food for Children's warehouse last month, visiting students wrote notes that will be included with letters asking donors for money. The room is covered with Christian artwork and photographs of people in places such as Ghana, Sierra Leone and the Philippines holding up items donated by the charity. In the warehouse below, volunteers repack items and forklifts move boxes into a container headed for Malawi.
Ms. McGuire says the children who receive the goods only get a few candies a year, so it has "only a good impact" on their health. She says the charity follows Mother Theresa's method of giving goods, rather than buying food locally as other aid agencies advocate.
"There's nothing to buy there," she says. "There's no such thing as a Loblaws on the corner. There's no manufacturing in Africa so to speak of."
Unlike Canadian Food for Children, War Child buys all food and supplies locally. "We don't do shipments ourselves because we find the cost of doing that to be incredibly prohibitive," Ms. Nutt said.
"We always purchase locally. Food is pretty much always available and accessible. The problem is the cost of the food has increased and salaries have not adjusted."
Micol Zarb, spokeswoman for the Stephen Lewis Foundation, which works with orphans and families effected by HIV/AIDS in Africa, says her organization also prefers to buy locally.
"The Stephen Lewis Foundation has lots of students that are supporting the fight against AIDS in Africa by holding fundraisers. They send the money to the Stephen Lewis Foundation and we direct it to grassroots organizations in Africa.
"These organizations know where the money is needed most at any given time, and the funds are used to support a wide range of things, like paying for school fees for children or paying for feeding programs."
However, the volunteers with Canadian Food for Children don't seem to be deterred by the fact that their programs are out of sync with those of non-governmental organizations.
When this year's Halloween candy has been sent to various far-flung countries, they will continue collecting toys, books and non-peri shable s . They will also continue working on the various oddball projects that the charity has embraced, such as knitting vests and weaving milk bags into sleeping mats for the world's poor, until Halloween rolls around again next year.