Status Update: February 2024
We provide this early 2024 status update to share ongoing demand statistics and observations from the winter semester so far. If you have any questions about this update, please get in touch.
CFB News
Campus Food Bank now has six staff members! Jaysin Masse, our new administrative coordinator, started with the CFB in November. They can often be found supporting clients and visitors at our front desk - please say hello next time you’re in.
We are very grateful to The Gateway for working with Priya, our client engagement coordinator, to publish a piece reiterating our commitment to serving international students.
Due to our continuing increases in demand, CFB will be pausing our Campus Kitchens programming when Winter 2024 semester concludes. We will be taking the summer to assess the program and make tweaks to ensure we can still provide critical kitchen skill building and community gatherings.
New all-time record set in January
*Campus closure in December affects visit totals.
January 2024 was our busiest month of operations ever. The food bank supported 1,053 households and a total of 1,790 individuals.
We are currently fully booked for appointments in the next six weeks. This wait time has doubled in two months. We are still booking emergency appointments by email if a client is in immediate need of food access.
We continue to distribute around 5,500 lbs of food per week. This involves about $10,000 per month in food purchasing to bridge the gap between donations and demand.
U of A Community Pantry now open
Since spring 2022, the Campus Food Bank has been planning for a second pantry location to help to address growing food insecurity among students, staff, and alumni. A community pantry is a place where community members can both leave donations and pick up food to take home. We were inspired by the community fridge at McMaster University while planning this project and we thank their team for all the helpful information they provided. We have been working with the Dean of Students Office and Facilities & Operations to find a U of A location that works for our clients and the needs of our community.
The new Community Food Pantry is now operational in Rutherford Library and is accessible by ONEcard tap anytime the library is open (thanks to The Gateway for covering the launch event). The Community Pantry offers a second location for food access while inviting the entire campus to take ownership of this important resource for students, faculty, staff, and alumni experiencing food insecurity.
The pantry’s success will depend on the University of Alberta community; we are actively recruiting campus units, departments, student groups, and others to adopt a week of the pantry. Learn more here and sign up today!
Fundraising challenges
Like many charities in Canada, our fundraising has been negatively affected by inflation and the changing economic circumstances of our donors. As an independent charity operating on U of A campuses, Campus Food Bank depends on individual donors and grants to meet our budget. In the last five years, our budget has increased a shocking 225 percent, due mostly to higher food costs. We have gone from distributing less than 1,000 pounds of food per week to 5,500 pounds of food per week. Our food purchasing budget has increased from about $20,000 in 2020-21 to an anticipated $150,000 in 2023-24. (We did not need to purchase food previous to 2020 as donations sufficiently met demand.) We have been able to grow our fundraising and grant successes in this period, but our food costs have grown at a faster pace. We are increasingly concerned about meeting our fundraising goals in future.
To help us gather community support at this critical time, we are launching our second annual Fresh Food February campaign to raise money specifically for the purchase of fresh produce and meat until spring arrives. Our goal is to raise $20,000 in February to ensure that we can provide a variety of produce and culturally relevant protein such as halal meat. These foods are in highest demand at our food bank, but are rarely available free through food bank supply chains and donations. Please make a contribution if you can, and help us spread the word by sharing with your friends, family, and colleagues.
Thank you everyone for your support of the Campus Food Bank.
Until next update,
The Campus Food Bank team
Caitlin, Erin, Jaysin, Madi, Priya, and Rhea
