After a year-long hiatus, Carleton’s Food Collective, which manages the Garden Spot (G-Spot), bounced back to life Aug. 22 with the election of its board of directors, and is now in search of a permanent home to ensure it won’t disappear again.
The collective’s purpose is to “solve issues of food security and accessibility on campus,” a member of its board of directors and Carleton master’s of political economy student, Wesley Petite said.
He said it provides healthy, vegan food to students for an optional donation with a secondary focus on using food that is organic and locally-grown.
Food is collected by donation or at a discount and prepared by volunteers, though he said he hopes the collective will add a paid staff member this year.
This will allow for more organization from year to year, he said.
The collective also needs to find two permanent locations—one on campus and one off, Petite said.
They previously used a kitchen on Bell Street to prepare the food and then served it in the University Centre.
The kitchen was lost to city zoning issues and the Carleton University Students’ Association (CUSA) didn’t renew the collective’s lease in the University Centre, Petite said.
The collective will have “more than usual funds” this year, he said, because of a $2 per student levy that was collected last year when the group didn’t operate.
Petite said both the Graduate Students’ Association (GSA) and CUSA collected the levy from students last year and therefore owe the Food Collective twice as much funding this year.
He said he foresees reluctance on the part of CUSA to hand over the funds.
CUSA already refunded that levy money to students last year, CUSA vice-president (student issues) Gina Parker said via email.
The collective “surfaced unexpectedly” last week, she said. The 2013-14 levy will be given if the proper documentation identifying the new body as the same group from previous years is provided, Parker said.
“It is the consensus of CUSA that students should not be charged for services they are not being provided,” she said.
The Food Collective is scheduled to have its debut event this year at the GSA’s ECOfair Sept. 12, where they are planning to serve chili, vegan air buns, and salad.
