What's in a Christmas hamper? Turkey, hope, or a hamstrung safety net, depending on who you ask

Mountains of cabbage, turnip, carrots, potatoes all the conventional elements of Christmas dinner line the walls of theSalvation Army storehouse in St. John's, ready to be packed away in identical cardboard boxes and shipped to homes around the province.

Those boxes contain a cornucopia of smoked ham, turkey and dressing, with tins of cranberry sauce and gravy to garnish the meal. There's even dessert: cake mix, frosting, cookies and candy round out the hamper.

It's afeast for those confronting famine, and one that hundreds of families will rely on this season across the province.

But how do those hampers help and are they the best solution to help people meet the most basic of needs?

Food bank demand growing

Boxes like theseoften feed entire families.

In recent weeks another food bank, Bridges to Hope in St. John's, has seen a spike in seniors seeking relief from added heating costs.

They're also supplyingworking peoplewhose wages haven't kept up with a rise in the cost of living. Around one in five recipientsis employed, said Jody Williams, manager of Bridges to Hope.

The food bank system acts as a failsafe to government-administrated social assistance, but it sometimes struggles to meet demand, Williams said.

Williamssaid 70 per cent of the charity's revenue totals, both edible and financial, accumulates in the short period between Thanksgiving and Christmas,leaving major gaps in other seasons.

For that reason, he said, cash donations are appreciated. Money, after all, doesn't spoil.

Should we use food banks at all?

Peter Trnka, a philosophy professor at Memorial University, said that unpredictability plus the stigma associated with using food banks is good reason to look for another solution.

He suggests we can do better than relying on institutionalized goodwill to keep people alive.

"Ithink we should guarantee everyone a living decent wage, housing and food system," Trnka said."We're developed and advanced and rich enough to be able to do that."

That position is taken to its extreme by Slovenian philosopher Slavoj iek, who criticized charity as a band-aid solution to political problems.

Zizekarguesthat all charitable giving actually reinforces a capitalist regime that, by its nature, causes inequality in the first place.

In other words, donating cans for a quick fix simply perpetuatesthe misery of those needing help, rather than solving the problem of wealth distribution itself.

Trnka, for his part, makes a distinction between using a food bank for emergenciesand a society thatdependson the whims of wealth holders to feedits disadvantaged.

"I'm not saying let's not give, I'm not saying there isn't a need," he told On the Go host Ted Blades.

But he recalled organizers warning that food banks should only be used in times of crisis, as ashort-term solution for an ailing safety net, when they first began opening across Canada in the 1980s.

"Food banks look like they're here to stay, and that's what worries me," Trnka said. "Ithink we can do better ... It shouldn't be a system which relies on charity."

Hope not hampered

For Major RenLoveless, the Salvation Army spokesperson gearing up to gift families a happy meal, the hampers all 1600 of them being stocked in the charity's storehousesymbolizehope.

"That's what this is all about," Loveless said."It's about giving hope, and hope comes in many forms, like lending a listening earor giving a helping hand, or saying a kind word."

Hope also comes in hamper form, he said. "We know that people really appreciate that help ... The public is very caring and very compassionate."

Williams, too, doesn't necessarily see food security as a problem to be solved politically.

"Isee hunger as a social problem," he said, adding that food security is a "complex issue" that takes bureaucrats, businesses and everyone in between to do their part to solve.

But he noted that governments could help by subsidizing fresh fruits and vegetables, or supplying people with a guaranteed minimum income to pull them through a rough patch solutions that couldbolster self-determination and perhaps eliminate the stigma of going to a charity for handouts.

"When people think of poverty, they think of a lack of money," he said. "I kind of see it more as lack of dignity."

With files from Jeremy Eaton and On the Go

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