The University of Victoria Students' Society (UVSS) food bank is seeing a staggering rise in use, according to its co-ordinator, and the semester is only one month old.
 
UVSS director of academics Rajpreet Sall, who is in charge of the food bank, attributed part of the rise to an increase in advertising.

"In January, when I became director of academics, I started advertising for the food bank," she said. “I thought it was a really important service that we offered that not a whole lot of students knew about."

She said the local economy may be another reason for the increased usage. "With our economic situation the way it is, with the lack of job opportunities in Victoria, we're finding that students aren't able to make ends meet," she elaborated.  

She said another major reason was the rise in tuition fees.

"There's been a two percent increase this semester," she said. "So it's really a combination of factors that made it happen."

Fortunately, funding and donations for the bank are plentiful. Sall said that they receive 50 cents from each full-time student, resulting in $15,000 that is meant to last for a full academic year.

In addition, the bank receives donations from businesses and citizens alike.

"We also do fundraisers, as well as events where prizes are given for those who bring in items," Sall said.

The donations UVSS are asking for no longer solely pertain to food. "I'm always looking at ways to expand it," Sall said. "We have a fairly decent sized space, so we're hoping to stock a clothing bank."

Sall said she's still trying to figure out how the food bank will organize the clothing donations. The bigger clothing articles are posing somewhat of a problem. At the moment, UVSS is buying socks and keeping those in the bank, Sall said.  

Other items the bank sometimes stocks are condoms, toothbrushes, toothpaste and feminine hygiene products.

To prevent abuse of the centre, students may only use the food bank once a week, and in order to gain entrance, students must present their ID cards at the door. "We go by the honour system," Sall explained. "It seems to work pretty well."

Hayleigh Wronski, co-ordinator of Carleton University’s Food Centre, said she has not noticed a significant rise in usage — yet.

"It's been a pretty average September and October so far," Wronski said.  

"We'll start to see a rise once it nears the end of semester, and people start to run out of OSAP."