'You can't learn if you're hungry': University food banks seeing high demand

The school year has just begun and yet university food banks in the Halifax area are already struggling to keep up with a growing number of students asking for groceries. 

"I was amazed because this Friday was the day that I have seen the most people ever," said Devora Goldberg, who manages the Mount Saint Vincent University food bank. "We have around 15 volunteers involved here and we couldn't catch up with the demand of people coming."

With the cost of groceries and housing increasing in Nova Scotia, students are struggling to afford the basics. They're turning to their schools for help. 

Goldberg moved to Halifax from Ecuador last winter, when she enrolled in MSVU's human nutrition master's program and started working at the food bank. The group receives donations from Feed Nova Scotia, and is also partially funded by the student's union. The food items are free to students in need, but she said there's often not enough to go around. 

"Usually a lot of international students come, but now I was surprised to see that also local people were coming to the food bank because they are also in need of these resources," said Goldberg. 

It's not just MSVU seeing this trend. 

Three students at Nova Scotia Community College's Ivany campus approached Rebecca Thomas, a student services and Indigenous support adviser, about needing financial assistance for groceries within the first two days of school last week. She said her colleagues are experiencing the same thing. 

"I think it's just an unprecedented amount of need," she said. "I'm not a physician or nutritionist, but I think we talk about all the time that you can't learn if you're hungry. Your brain needs calories to function."

Students like Will MacDougall say worrying about whether or not they can afford groceries causes a lot of stress. 

"I find I have to make a lot of sacrifices day to day," he said. "You know, whether it be, do I eat breakfast this morning or do I wait and save it for lunch?" 

"It's really expensive to just buy necessities right now," said Madeline Salter, another student. 

Along with a food bank, NSCC also gives out grocery store gift cards. Thomas finds herself handing these out often. 

"It's just a Band-Aid, right? You know, it's not like we're giving away hundreds of dollars to a student," she said. 

Like MSVU, Dalhousie University's food bank also gets their items from Feed N.S., along with some funding from their student's union. 

Micha Davies-Cole, the Dalhousie food bank manager, said they serve at least 300 students per week. When Davies-Cole started with the food bank 10 years ago, it was more about students coming in for extra snacks.

"Now we see students coming in and they're planning their entire meal plan for the week," said Davies-Cole. "We try to do as best we can."

"It's both deeply impressive and deeply worrying to see students have to go through what it is they're going through," said Thomas. "And I feel that there has to be something at all three levels of government, whatever that may be, to help ease the burden of going to school."