October is Food Security Awareness Month, and the Students’ Union’s (SU) Campus Food Bank has been gathering donations throughout the month to help raise awareness about food security as a part of their Fall Food Drive campaign.
“Since COVID, the trend of people accessing the food bank has increased, and we see that increase day to day,” said Campus Food Bank Education and Engagement Coordinator David Thomas in an interview with the Gauntlet.
Thomas explained that food insecurity is at the intersection of several issues currently affecting Canadians, one of which being the current cost of living crisis.
“Around a third of university students around Canada face food insecurity at some level, and that’s just the hard data that we have, many students may not even realize they’re food insecure,” said Thomas, “So we care about food insecurity because we want to both enlighten and help show students that there are supports on campus to help you be food secure.”
The food bank is available to U of C students, staff and faculty, as well as alumni for up to two years after they graduate.
“The only limitations that we have is that you have to be able to prove that by showing your Unicard, logging in to your Student Centre [and] showing a paystub. We don’t look at proof of income.” Thomas said.
The Campus Food Bank can be accessed three times in the fall and winter semesters respectively, and once during the spring and summer semesters. 30 days need to lapse before accessing its services again.
SU Vice President Internal Abdu Negmeldin said they especially try to ramp up on donations during this time to help provide for the rest of the year and supply their hampers.
“The SU Campus Food Bank is really there to help students with their food insecurity,” Negmeldin said, “Especially coming from the community or students who might have extra on the side that they can help give back, it helps the community give back to the community.”
Negmeldin said they generally look for items that are easy to store for a long period of time, including nonperishables and toiletries, though any donation helps.
The SU Food Bank’s Pack the Pantry competition is held annually throughout October and is one of the main ways the food bank receives donations in the fall. Teams collect donations throughout the month, and the team with the most donations wins a prize for their efforts.
Collection day takes place on Oct. 30 from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. this year, where all the donations will be gathered by the Korean BBQ House in Mac Hall’s food court.
The food bank is mainly run by the SU, though Thomas said they try to work with different partners on and off campus when they can.
“One partner namely is the Campus Food Hub,” Thomas said.
The Campus Food Hub is a subsidized grocery store on campus, located on the main floor of Crowsnest Hall across from the Olympic Oval.
“A lot of our key demographics and people that we serve overlap, so we do our best to collaborate with them, knowledge exchange with them and share resources,” Thomas said.
“We know [the] price of groceries is high, and especially for students it’s almost tenfold,” Negmeldin said, “We cannot function as well as we do without the support of the community and the students, so we appreciate any donations we get and we hope to keep the community’s support as we move forward.”
In-kind items can be donated at the Campus Food Bank in the SU office, located on the second floor of Mac Hall by the Shirley Annastasia Robertson Lounge. Monetary donations can also be made through the food bank’s GoFundMe page, which is used to purchase nonperishables later on.
The drive runs until the end of October, ending with Super Stack (Collection Day) day, though the food bank accepts donations throughout the year. Additional information about the drive, challenge and volunteering opportunities can be found on the SU’s website.
