Did you hear what happened at the Campus Food Bank?

By Ravana Smith, February 25 2026—

Nothing, that’s what! And that’s the problem. Well… it’s not nothing, but it’s less something than it should be.

Since I began volunteering at our university’s Campus Food Bank, short as that time has been, I’ve realized there isn’t nearly as much foot traffic as I anticipated. You’d think more people would be lining up for free food, but nooo.

Alas, poor souls, I know it isn’t your fault. The food bank is criminally underpromoted. 

Last year, when I first heard of it, I only knew about their food drives and Good Food boxes — I should’ve figured there was more to it, but I really had no idea about the food hampers or even the power packs. And I’m guessing most of you don’t know about those either.

So sit down and let me drill in the basics right now. 

First up are the food hampers. If you email our beautiful, amazing, fantabulous coordinators at foodbank@ucalgary.ca and say something along the lines of, “I’d like to request a hamper,” one of them will get you set up with a Zoom appointment (Zoom because we need to make sure none of you are scholars in the field of identity theft). After that, one of their happy minions (i.e. volunteers like myself) will go through a request form so we have you in the system, and then provide you with an impressive food item list. Consider this the Holy Grail of grocery lists: you’ll tell us what fridge/freezer items, pantry items and toiletries you want. And then we give it to you. It’s that easy.

I hope you’re slapping yourself at the knowledge you could’ve been getting a suitcase-load of free food three times a semester. And I do, in fact, mean enough food to fill a suitcase. 

Your arms will suffer as your stomach rejoices. I speak from experience.

But if you don’t need groceries, just a quick snacky while you’re on campus, the second benefit is for you. A power pack is a little brown lunch bag of food that you can request, no questions asked. You just walk in, tell the receptionist you want a power pack, she’ll let us know, and we’ll bring it out to you. It’s quick, easy and delicious (get your mind out of the gutter). The only rule is that you can only get one a day, because we gotta make sure there’s enough for anyone else who might need some.

Now, it’s dawned on me that you can’t get any delicious free food if you don’t even know where the office is, so let me help you out. It’s not hiding, per se, but it’s definitely not sitting in plain sight. 

If you aren’t directionally challenged, it’s at MacEwan Hall 225, Volunteer Services. And if you’re like me and you need a very detailed play-by-play, this is for you:

1. Find that giant staircase near Mr. Pretzel (on the second floor), the one you would take to head down to Jugo Juice or The Den.
2. You know the food court? Yeah, go the opposite way. If you don’t pass the Q Centre almost immediately, then you’ve set a new record for how quickly someone can get lost.
3. You should be staring at an area with lots of tables, and a Wi-Fi connection that sucks even more than it usually does. Anybody sitting there is likely to be staring right into the Volunteer Services office on your left, but just walk past them and head right in. 
4. If you’re standing in front of the desk that says “Food Bank,” then congratulations! You’ve reached your destination.

 I really hope this article gets more people using the food bank. We’ve got a LOT of food from generous donors, and we’ve got Ramadan Hampers for Muslim students starting from Feb. 10 until March 13.

If you’ve made it to the end of this brief guide, thanks for reading and proving that your attention span isn’t on life support! See you at the Food Bank!

This article is a part of our Opinions section and does not necessarily reflect the views of the Gauntlet editorial board.