To our UBC community,
The AMS has secured an extra $425,000 CAD of funding from UBC for Food Security Initiatives in addition to the originally-allocated $350,000 CAD, bringing the total amount of funding going to direct food insecurity relief initiatives to $850,000 CAD. The distribution breakdown for the additional funding is as follows: $210K for UBC Meal Share Program, $145K for the AMS Food Bank, $30K for Sprouts, $25K for Acadia Food Hub, among other initiatives on campus.
While this additional funding for this year is helpful, we unequivocally maintain our position that one time funding does not work because food insecurity is not a one time issue.
Our AMS Academic Experience Survey indicated that around 40% of undergraduate students and 50% of graduate students feel food insecure—UBC cannot claim to be a world-class university while offering band-aid solutions for students, some of whom line up for hours outside the AMS Food Bank everyday in order to be able to feed themselves and their families.
We would like to thank all the students, notably Sprouts, working to organise the “Hungry For Change” walkout for food security, this Friday, October 21st at 2:00 PM in front of the Nest. I invite all UBC students to join us at this walkout. The burden of fighting for food security should fall on no student—this is the University’s responsibility and we call on UBC to provide continued, sustainable, and substantial funding towards the various groups that work to relieve food insecurity on campus during the budget creation process for next year.
Take care and see you at the Sprouts walkout for food security this Friday at 2:00 PM!
Eshana Bhangu
President, Alma Mater Society
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