Overview
The Unified Support Centre’s (USC) Emergency Essentials Assistance Program provides hampers of food, personal hygiene items, feminine hygiene products, and safer sex supplies to students in need through a tiered, needs-based system with both a pick-up and delivery option. We support both undergraduate and graduate students.
The USC receives an average of 435 hamper requests per month with over 700 unique students using our services.
Each hamper is designed to support a student with their food and essentials related needs for at least a week. Demand is substantially exceeding current Ottawa Food Bank and community donations, requiring substantial supplementary purchases.
We need your support to purchase sufficient food and essentials to meet the current needs of the Carleton University community.
The Background
The USC’s Emergency Essentials Assistance Program is dedicated to supporting students experiencing food insecurity during their academic career.
Our Enhanced Assistance service tier supports students in urgent need with additional hampers (up to 4 per month), customized products for their needs.
Current service volumes have placed significant financial strain on the USC. USC staff are completing weekly Costco Business Centre orders to maintain a minimum service standard, purchasing essentials such as rice, pasta, canned soup, bread, eggs, and milk in bulk.
The Rollout
Funds will be used to purchase the food and essentials helping us meet students’ current demand for the service while we pursue long-term funding solutions.
The Impact
A combination of food crisis, inflation, and global uncertainty has had the greatest impact on already vulnerable Carleton University students from marginalized and racialized communities.
Our Emergency Essentials Assistance Program has broken service usage records on a near-monthly basis since the USC was created. Current demand significantly exceeds the Ottawa Food Bank’s capabilities to support us, and additional funds are needed to maintain the program’s viability in the short to medium term.
Your contribution will support the USC in offering consistent, reliable, and direct food and essentials related support to all Carleton University students in need while we pursue sustainable funding solutions to meet current needs.