Acadia Food Hub is a product of the pandemic. It is all that was bad and all that was good about the pandemic. For the bad it revealed just how close many students, especially those with families and from away, are to poverty and major food insecurity. Their food crisis wasn’t so much caused by the pandemic as revealed by it. For the good it made it clear people care and will do something selfless in a crisis. It reveals the affinity and care that faculty have for their students. It shows the strength of communities of caring people.
I sat down with Craig O’Brian, pastor of Origin Church (the community group sponsoring the Food Hub) outside Doughgirls’ Bakery in Wesbrook Place to chat about the Food Hub. For all the wealth on display - expensive cars, brimming shopping bags, high end condos for sale- one might not appreciate the proximity of poverty at UBC. Poverty is real and present all around us. Craig is part of a diverse community of care at UBC trying to do something about one small part of the problem.
Craig told me that the food hub started in the pandemic essentially out the back seat of a faculty member’s car. Dr. Jennifer Katz witnessed, through her own graduate students and others in the faculty of education, how hard the early days of the pandemic was hitting student families. “She basically went to the Vancouver Food Bank, loaded her car with food and brought it out to Acadia” Craig said. “One of Dr. Katz’ students was a member of the Origin Church congregation and she came to me to ask if we, the Church could do something.” That’s how the church became involved.
Acadia Food Hub is currently providing food hampers three times a month to about 250 student households (including individual and family households). This is up since the depth of the pandemic. Most who access the Food Hub are students or student connected, a few come from the wider community. Access is low barrier and nonjudgemental.
Craig explained that for formal reasons the Greater Vancouver Food Bank requires a community-based non-profit to sponsor food distribution in a set up like Acadia Food Hub. This fit well with the Church’s mission: “we had already been distributing bread, free from Cobb’s bakery, for about a decade.”
Craig and his spouse have been in Vancouver since 1994. Originally from Gainsville, Georgia, Craig found himself in Vancouver working with what was then Gladstone Baptist Church, subsequently called Cityview. In 2010 he answered an invitation to set up a campus congregation which became Origin Church. Today he is part of a five person leadership team with an active campus congregation comprised mainly of students.
“The real story,” Craig tells me, was how these Education faculty members “cared about their students, most of the early volunteers were profs from Education, they were really keen, really concerned. Many of the students faced a crisis with the shutdown, they lost funding, lost jobs, and many -like the international students- couldn’t go home.”
“Were you surprised by the need?” I asked Craig. He paused a moment. Then slowly said, “No, I wasn’t surprised by the need. We have been distributing bread from Cobb’s Bakery for about a decade. I knew there was a need.”
“What was surprising was the intensity of the need.”
Some of the families were skipping meals. Young students where ashamed to ask for help. Others were withdrawing into isolation cut off from family miles away. In the midst of the pandemic a feeling of hopelessness was setting in. Craig’s faith drives him to reach out, to do what he can to share his sense of blessing, offering hope in the shape of a food hamper is an act that for Craig can make a real difference. It might not fundamentally alter structural inequality, but it can let people know others do care.
Craig told me about a preschool class visit to the food hub. After showing the young people around he asked them what they thought poverty looked like. One of them offered up that poor people looked dirty and tired with worn out clothes. “At such a young age,” said Craig to me. Here’s the stereotype of poverty. The reality is different. It could be the quiet young man in the class, neatly dressed, sometimes a bit tired, but there every day. It might be a mature student who cares for an extended family. It could be anyone. We can’t tell by appearances.
The situation isn’t helped by narratives of student poverty as a phase of life. Both Craig and I have heard these stories. Stories about existing on ramen noodles or running out of food before the next cheque arrived. In some circles these experiences are said to build character. The reality is food insecurity doesn’t build character, it destroys dignity. Places like Acadia Food Hub can work against these stereotypes.
“I recall how much hope is instilled when there are people who care,” said Craig. That sense of caring gives hope, even in a moment of crisis one is connected and cared about. “Sometimes it is hard for students to ask for help.” Places like Acadia Food Hub are there to make it easier for people to get help in a way that is caring and nonjudgemental.
Craig and I focussed on the history of the Food Hub and the community of care that encircles it. We didn’t dwell much on the underlying structural issues that maintain and perpetuate chronic food insecurity. Having a low barrier source of food on campus is important, but doesn’t resolve the ongoing issues. Fundamental changes like a living wage, a guaranteed annual income, and making housing a right, not a privilege, would go a long way toward making any kind of food bank irrelevant.
In the mean time we can be thankful that there are people like Dr. Jennifer Katz and Pastor Craig O’Brien who care enough to try and make a difference in the here and now.