Students have raised more than $215,000 over 17 years toward the student emergency fund, and this year collected more than 8,800 food items for the Confederation College food bank.
THUNDER BAY — Students and staff at Confederation College have come together to ensure students don’t go hungry or broke while trying to get an education.
Thomas McDonald, SUCCI’s administrator of communications and marketing, as well as the co-ordinator of the Stock the Bank program, said every year he’s grateful for whatever contributions are made, noting it can fluctuate from year to year.
“This year is the most non-perishable items we’ve seen (donated) in a single year,” said McDonald on Monday morning, after announcing 8,824 goods were given to the emergency food back program at the college.
McDonald added students are facing a number of challenges on the financial front, from rising tuition costs, to increased housing expenses and record food prices.
Skipping meals to cover other costs shouldn’t have to be an option, he said. Not being able to cover those other costs is also an issue, McDonald added.
“We never want food insecurity to be one of the problems,” McDonald said. “Having a food bank on campus that students can access, having programs like the student emergency fund, which we call the Say Yes Fund, is important. The student emergency fund fills gaps where other bursaries and emergency funding mechanisms are unable to.
“The Say Yes Fund allows the college to say yes to supporting things that might not otherwise be funded and will assist students staying in school.”
Since launching in 2006, students and staff have contributed $215,000 to the student emergency fund, including $17,240 this year alone.
Confederation College president Kathleen Lynch said it’s great to see the willingness for the college family as a whole to help ensure no one gets left behind.
“It’s so wonderful that everybody’s been so generous, and they’re really happy to participate,” Lynch said.
“Everybody knows when you’re a student, often you’re tight on funds and things get tough. We don’t want to have people have to withdraw because they can’t afford to keep attending or they’re just finding it hard to make ends meet month-to-month. Our student union works in partnership with the staff and we’re there to support students.”
Lynch said every year it seems to get better and better and departments within the school come up with more innovative ways to raise money.
“We had some terrific draws in different departments and everybody is really supportive of this initiative.”