For the past nine years, UBC Library and UBC’s Alma Mater Student Society (AMS) have run the Food for Fines campaign, an initiative to support the AMS Food Bank and the Greater Vancouver Food Bank. Library users who wish to reduce their fines can donate non-perishable food items – $2 in fines are covered for each item donated, up to a maximum of $30.
Increasing numbers of donations highlight the generosity of the UBC campus; last year’s donations totalled more than 3,100 items collected at branches, and more than $6,300 in fines were waived.
Donations are split evenly between the two food banks once the campaign is completed, usually in early November. “Donations received from the Library provide a substantial part of our food bank inventory,” says Emilia Moulechkova, Coordinator for the AMS Food Bank this past year. “This enables us to keep up with the growing demand for our service and ensures that campus communities have access to food as a right, not a privilege.”
Read more from UBC Library’s Community Report (2013).
