As campus food bank use grows, ‘care cupboards’ pop up

Amid an affordability crisis in Canada, student needs are growing and campuses are seeing expanded use of food banks and ‘care cupboards’, writes Julia Wong for CBC News.

Erin O’Neil, executive director of the campus food bank at the University of Alberta, said several hundred new clients have signed on with the programme since the start of the school year. Across the country, Sue Kidd, the chaplaincy minister at the University of Prince Edward Island, said students’ needs are also growing. Kidd said the school’s food bank recently saw more than 100 students use its services – the most ever. Mount Royal University in Calgary recently installed five ‘care cupboards’ at several locations on campus. The custom-made units, which students can access for free, include a fridge, microwave and cupboard, and they are filled with items such as fresh fruit, yoghurt, cheese and granola bars. They also carry hygiene and sanitation items.

Statistics Canada released new numbers last week showing Canadians are paying nearly 10% more for groceries in August than they were the previous year. And as of fall 2020, nearly one in 10 Canadians said they had experienced food insecurity in their homes in the past 12 months.
Full report on the CBC News site