With the rising food costs are putting pressure on Fanshawe College students, Fanshawe Student Union (FSU) created a food bank to help students with grocery expenses.
The FSU Sharing Shop provides students with access to food and other essential items at no cost.
Room F2010. (Torey Joseph Legarrie)
“I definitely think that the food bank is a good thing,” Fanshawe student Sam Shepherd said.
“I do my grocery shopping probably every 2 weeks because that’s where my pay period is. So I spent $200 on groceries last time, and that was pretty good,” she said.
Shepherd said that she has seen a significant increase in grocery prices.
Sam Shepherd, social works, year 2. (Torey Joseph Legarrie)
“I’m from Woodstock, so even just from going from Woodstock to London, that was a huge increase. Let alone last year to this year,” she said.
“Things have gone up significantly in price,” she said.
Food banks like the London Food Bank is very beneficial to students.
” We’re open on Saturdays for students,” said Jane Roy, Co executive director from the London Food Bank.
Roy said that the FSU president Shade Dias celebrated their anniversary.
“We honestly want to connect with the folks at Fanshawe. We had our 40 anniversary, and the president of the student union showed up which was amazing,” she said.
Jane Roy, Co executive director. (CBC)
“So for us, the percentage of people we directly help that are students is about 8 per cent. That’s gone down a little bit since the past couple years, due to the numbers of international students going down,” she said.
Roy said the percentage is still significant.
“I think students who are financially struggling, especially for lower-income households – would really benefit from it,” Fanshawe student Charly Lapier said.
Lapier said grocery expenses doesn’t affect her right now, but they will when she lives on her own they might.
“Once I start university and I’ll be living on my own, I think it’ll definitely take a pretty big toll,” she said.
Lapier said that she like many other students haven’t heard of the Sharing Shop, and that it should be advertised.
Charly Lapier, pre-health, year 1. (Torey Joseph Legarrie)
“I think more posters around campus because I often find myself stopping and looking at different posters about random events and whatnot,” she said.
Monthly visits to food banks in Canada have increased dramatically. Nearly 2.2 million people visited a food bank in March of 2025, which has doubled in the past 6 years.
You can drop off non-perishable food items and essentials on campus at:
- FSU office (SC1000)
- Campus book store (F1002)
- Counselling and accessibility services (F2010)
