Food bank provides relief for students at George Brown College

Mar 16, 2019 | Life

The food bank office staffs preparing the list of food items to be distributed at George Brown College, Casa Loma campus. (Alan Jose)

Alan Jose

The Student Association of George Brown College is organizing a food bank facility to help financially struggling students.

George Brown’s food bank is a financial backup program exclusively for students at the college in downtown Toronto.

International students who struggle to get a part-time job and buy groceries make use of this facility.

Students who want partake in food bank and must submit a student ID, a timetable, and a proof showing their financial situation to claim the benefits, said Mithiyan Forteo, a food bank lead at the Casa Loma Campus.

“We don’t have enough money to help everybody we are just trying to help people who have more financial need,” Foretto said.

There is a monthly points system for each student to get the items from the food bank, Foretto said.

The students who are enrolled in the food bank’s free food distribution will have a 30-point limit per month, and those who have dependents get additional 10 points monthly, she said

Different types of fruits and vegetables exhibited at the Good Food Market in the George Brown College, Casa Loma campus. (Alan Jose)

There are some food items that are free from the points systems, such as sample packs of cheese, spices, and some vegetables. The food bank provides nutritious food; none of the food provided is expired.

“It is more than kind of basic stuff we get here, even chicken, milk and eggs are also given free to students,” said George Brown student Bhuvanesh Jothi.

Items such as meat, rice, eggs, cereals, fruits, vegetables and confectionery goods are available at the food bank, Food Bank support staff Brian Gomes said.

Students of Casa Loma campus purchasing fruits and vegetables from the Good Food Market at George Brown. (Alan Jose)

There is also a Good Food Market offering items at reduced prices that are functioning in association with the PeerConnect and FoodShare that offers students not registered with the food bank plan, Gomes said.

Every student can avail fruits and vegetables from there at a cheap price, he said.

The market is open every Thursday from 10:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Casa Loma campus.

Food bank facilities are available at the St. James, Casa Loma and Waterfront campuses and they function in association with the Daily Bread Food Bank. Once students are registered with the food bank, they can collect food items from Monday to Friday.

George Brown is one of the 130 member agencies associated with The Daily Bread Food Bank of Toronto.