What you need to know about the food bank referendum
By Sarah Lazin / Staff Writer
The UVSS Food Bank is calling on students to vote “yes” on an upcoming referendum, which would increase the semesterly fee by 75 cents per full-time student and 37 cents per part-time student.
The referendum comes as the latest means by which the Food Bank is pursuing a systemic, long-term change to address student food insecurity. The last Food Bank referendum passed in 2015, says Food Bank Coordinator (and referendum proponent) Jasmine Robertson, though the program received more funding through a student fee reallocation (rather than an overall increase in student fees).
“[It] was really successful and made a big difference,” says Robertson, “but since then, we’ve continued to have more and more students coming every week and we just can’t keep up with demand. And also food prices are increasing for us as well; so food prices overall are going up and that impacts our ability to maximize our dollar.”
Fee increase would expand budget, food offerings
Students currently pay $1.50 per semester per full-time student, and $0.75 per part-time student; the proposed increase, says Robertson, equates to an approximately extra $1 000 every month in the Food Bank’s budget. This increase would allow the Food Bank to stock larger quantities of milk, eggs, and other perishables.
The Food Bank is also in the process of diversifying the types of food provided. “We’re working with SoCC [Students of Colour Collective] at the moment to prioritize certain items that are needed by our community to make sure our foods aren’t just reflective of a typical Western diet,” says Robertson. The list of suggestions provided by SOCC last year included ghee, pomegranate syrup, lentils, and spices.
For students unfamiliar with the services provided by the Food Bank, coordinators want them to know that the Food Bank is “open to any and all UVic students at any time.”
“The only qualifier is that you are a current UVic student with a valid student ID, so this is really an effort to destigmatize food bank use,” says Robertson. “It’s up to them [students] whether to use it and how much . . . students are meant to use it once a week, and there are limits on how much you can take of each item or item category, and we have a data tracking sheet that people have to fill out, but other than that, it’s drop in, it’s self serve.”
The Food Bank is also open to graduate students and families, with higher food allowances to support family units on campus.
Both slates support referendum
On Facebook, Connect UVic candidate Taisto Witt said the slate supports the referendum. “Food security is an issue we think is extremely important. We are very distressed by the fact that the capacity of the food bank is greatly exceeded by student demand, and hope to work with the food bank to address this issue in the future.”
Energize UVic also said when asked on its Facebook page that it supported the referendum, but did not elaborate beyond a simple ‘yes’ answer.
With the voting period quickly approaching, advocates for the referendum are calling on the campus community to support one another in the face of food insecurity.
“We think students should care,” urges Robertson. “In one of our campaign meetings, someone was saying students share notes and students give each other rides . . . there are so many ways that students support each other, and supporting the Food Bank is a really important way that students help other students.”
“It just creates a community atmosphere,” she says. “Then people who are hesitant about using the food bank, we can say [to them] ‘look, you’ve actually paid for this, you’re paying to use this service.’ So I think that can help people feel more comfortable as well.”
