Grade 12 Social Justice Students: Mathew Pounden, Teacher Danielle Huculak, Jaelin Ellis, Kaeleigh Gaunt, and Chris Moore.

Five Social Justice students from Belmont Secondary took on the “Raise the Rates” challenge to bring awareness to the amount of money the government allocates to those living on social assistance. After paying rent and the regular bills, there is roughly $26 dollars a week left for food. The students took their $26 dollars to the grocery store and purchased items such as Zoodles, granola bars, eggs, cans of tuna, apples and bananas. And how did they do? Only one of the five students made it to day six.  The grade 12 students found that eating roughly 500 calories a day made it difficult to focus in school and left them with low levels of energy. One student, Mathew Pounden, lost four pounds, only making it to day three of the challenge. The students experienced first-hand what it’s like to live with the bare minimum and plan on writing a letter to the government asking them to raise the social assistant rates.