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For a year and a half, I worked at the food bank at the University of Ottawa.

It was extremely rewarding work, but it was also all-consuming. Keeping the food bank open five days a week without full-time staff was very difficult, and I was always unloading deliveries or trekking across town to pick up bread.

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Even though roughly 300 to 400 students a month depend on the food bank, including many with children, the food bank only has stable funding until April 30. If funding is not secured on time, the university must pick up the bill or vulnerable students will suffer. Moreover, the university should create and publicize a contingency plan to protect this service, instead of keeping students in the dark.

There are two reasons why the food bank, which is funded and run by the Student Federation of the University of Ottawa (SFUO), is in trouble. First, the Ontario Progressive Conservative government made student union dues optional. Without guaranteed funding, the food bank and other crucial student union services will be in danger. Long-term budgeting will be impossible. Can you imagine the stress of scrounging up enough money for a new freezer when you have no idea how much money the food bank will receive next year?