The closure comes in the midst of security and funding issues
The campus community fridge, a vital resource for students, faculty and community members needing free healthy food options, officially closed its doors on Aug. 30, 2024. The decision came after mounting financial challenges, repeated security breaches and ongoing difficulties in maintaining adequate staffing.
The fridge, operated by the Student Wellness Centre, had been a food resource located behind Mills Library for over two years. It provided free, nutritious food to anyone in need, including students, staff and members of the surrounding community.
For many students, the fridge was essential to help provide food amid the rising cost of living. In an interview with The Silhouette, PhD student Val Flores, expressed how the fridge had been a great help throughout their time at McMaster. "It came at a time in my life when I didn't really have a lot of money," said Flores.
It came at a time in my life when I didn't really have a lot of money.
Val Flores, PhD student
Flores, who was diagnosed with diabetes in 2023, shared the struggles of eating healthy with expensive grocery prices and limited food options on campus. "Having the community fridge so I could make my own meals and deal with my own condition . . . It helped me a lot," said Flores.
The McMaster Community Fridge announced on Instagram that the service would be closing as of Aug. 30, 2024. The statement cited "logistical challenges" as the reason.
The community fridge was established in 2022 by a group of third-year student volunteers who wanted to address food insecurity on campus during a sustainability course project. The Student Wellness Centre undertook the project and assumed responsibility for stocking, maintaining and monitoring fridge services.
SWC Program Coordinator Jack Chen provided a detailed account of the challenges plaguing the community fridge initiative in recent years. Funding had become a persistent challenge, with the initiative relying heavily on monetary and food donations. "The years following 2022 showed a pretty exponential decrease in funding from donation . . . we were not able to secure the kind of additional funding needed to support the fridge on a sustainable basis," said Chen.
The years following 2022 showed a pretty exponential decrease in funding from donations …we were not able to secure the kind of additional funding needed to support the fridge on a sustainable basis.
Jack Chen, Program Coordinator
Student Wellness Centre
Staffing and volunteer support have posed further challenges. "We have lots of student volunteers who work on the project and love being part of it . . . But without a dedicated [paid] staff member, it's been challenging to manage everything together," said Chen.
In addition to financial difficulties, security concerns have significantly impacted the fridge's viability. According to Chen, the fridge has faced incidents of theft.
"In the past 12 months, we've experienced quite a few security breaches," said Chen.
These incidents have also highlighted the difficulty of maintaining a free-access resource in a public space while balancing the need for security and safety. Ultimately, the combination of these issues led to the difficult decision to close the community fridge.
Although the community fridge itself will no longer be in operation, the mission to address food insecurity on campus will continue through the Food Collective Centre, a service funded by the McMaster Students Union. The fridge and freezer from the closed community fridge will be repurposed to support the FCC's operations, expanding their service operations to offer both non-perishable and perishable food items.
The FCC, newly located on the 3rd floor of the HUB, has traditionally focused on non-perishable items. This expansion will help maintain the balanced and nutritious offerings previously provided by the community fridge.
"I'm super excited by the expansion of the FCC services to include perishable items. This will continue to help us serve our members and help alleviate food insecurity on campus," said MSU Vice-President (Administration) Adam El-Kadi.
The SWC will provide an initial $1,000 in financial support to the FCC and will evaluate further donations based on the success of the first year of operations.
Organizers of the community fridge have expressed their commitment to supporting those in need, albeit in a different format.
"You can still access the same number of resources, if not more, in this new space [FCC]. It's just in a different spot and a different format," said Chen.
They hope that integrating the FCC into this new model will provide a more sustainable and secure method of distributing food, addressing the challenges that led to the fridge's closure.
As the campus community adjusts to this new food distribution blueprint, the HUB will officially launch the new service space on Oct. 1. Organizers encourage students and staff to stay informed by following @msu_fcc and @mcmastercommunityfridge on Instagram.
Photo C/O Canadian Pacific Railway
For the past 20 years, the Canadian Pacific Holiday Train has traveled across Canada and the United States, spreading holiday cheer and making donations to food banks at each of its stops. This year, it will be making its annual Hamilton stop on the evening of Nov. 28, in Gage Park.
The Holiday Train is always decked in festive lights and decorations. At each of its stops one of the train cars opens up to reveal a stage for a live concert performance. Both the concert and the event itself are free. The featured musicians will include Alan Doyle — formerly of Great Big Sea — and Beautiful Band. While guests are encouraged to donate non-perishable items to Hamilton Food Share, it’s not mandatory.
“Nothing there costs anything, so even families who might not have a lot of extra can come out and enjoy [the event] as a kickoff to the holiday season to get into the festive spirit,” said Celeste Taylor, the Resource Development Manager for Hamilton Food Share.
Every month, over 13,000 people in the city, including almost 5,000 children, need a food bank every month. As rent in the city continues to increase, food is becoming more difficult to access for many. According to the Hamilton Hunger Report 2019, households who access a food bank spend, on average, more than 50 per cent of their income on housing, increasing the risk of displacement or homelessness. Food is an important part of most holiday traditions, and it can be difficult to celebrate when there’s nothing to put on the table.
Food is an important part of most holiday traditions, and it can be difficult to celebrate when there’s nothing to put on the table.
“Everybody wants to celebrate, whether they’re celebrating Christmas or another holiday, they want to be able to be with their family or to be with the people they care about and food is often central to that. It’s a method of social inclusion when people are able to have the food they need to make a meal. The other part is, here in Hamilton we have such a high percentage of people who are struggling so much with paying the rent that sometimes there just isn’t anything left to buy food with . . . It’s not just holiday food, it’s also being able to put a meal on the table,” said Taylor.
Taylor says that there are many other ways that the community can get involved. “The other thing that people can do is to be looking towards social policy change that would be helping people to cover the expenses of daily life and life’s basics . . . The important message is not that it’s Food Banks or policy change, it’s both.”
Since 1999, the Holiday Train has been contributing donations to local food bank organizations. While the concert in Gage Park is only one night, it’s important to keep that same level of donation energy throughout the year as giving shouldn’t end after the holidays.
The CP Holiday Train will be rolling through Gage Park (1000 Main St. E) on Nov. 28 at 7:45 p.m.
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On Dec. 8, 2018 Jamaican Patty Shack food truck owners, Michael Thompson and Wendy Wright, introduced a piece of the island to the Hamilton Farmers’ Market. Driven by the positive responses to their twists on classic beef patties, the couple decided to set up shop in a permanent location.
Thompson and Wright started the Jamaican Patty Shack food truck in July 2018 at the Because Beer Craft Beer Festival. The idea had been in their heads for a long time after the Jamaican couple had noticed a lack of availability of patties in the Hamilton area.
Since establishing the food truck, the couple has garnered public recognition that has drawn individuals from far and wide to taste their patties. They recently had a woman from Toronto come to the Hamilton Farmers’ Market simply to have their patties. When they visited Toronto for the Mac & Cheese Festival and Buskerfest last year, they were also invited to Toronto city hall by mayor John Tory.
[spacer height="20px"]The two have been involved in both culinary arts and customer service for a while, having done catering previously. Thompson traces his interest in food service back to his teenage years, working as a manager in Dairy Queen and in a West Indian restaurant called Willie’s Jerk. Wright is a baker and previously worked in a food truck in Toronto. By putting their heads together, the two came up with the idea of a Jamaican patty food truck.
“It's for people on the go. It's fast. It's affordable. Our main aim… was to feed people on the go [for] ten dollars and under [so it’s] easy on the pocket,” said Thompson.
It’s not only the affordability of the patties that has contributed to its wide appeal but the customizability and variety that the Jamaican Patty Shack offers. This is not simply a spot for the traditional beef patty. Customers can top up their patty according to their own taste, adding ingredients such as cheese or jerk chicken or having their patty wrapped, stuffed, or grilled.
[spacer height="20px"]Both out-of-the-box thinkers, the couple is continuously experimenting at home with different flavours. The result is a number of unique twists, such the pattaco — a patty dressed up as a taco — or the reggae patty which is cut open and filled with jerk chicken coleslaw. With their innovations on a traditional recipe, the couple honours the history of the patty.
“Our main slogan is ‘Out of Many, One Patty’ and that's… because of the Jamaican coat of arms which is ‘Out of Many, One People’ and so a lot of different cultures is what comes together to make Jamaica… [T]he patty has evolved from different cultures,” said Thompson.
By setting up shop in the Farmers’ Market, the couple also honours the market tradition in Jamaica. Providing fresh and quality food is important to the duo so they utilize produce from local farmers in their patties.
[spacer height="20px"]Setting up in the market also places Jamaican Patty Shack in the city they love and live in. Since coming to the Farmers’ Market, the Stoney Creek residents have discovered something of a family among the friendly and supportive market crowd. Being able to have personable and meaningful interactions with the members of the community they interact with every day was key to them.
“We want customers to feel happy to come and excited about coming to our spot… We're trying to recreate that little piece of vacation that people have in their mind or in their memories so they come and we have a lit palm tree in the back, some reggae music playing and the service is always positive,” said Wright.
Looking to the future, Thompson and Wright hope to have pop-up shops on the outskirts of Hamilton. They are also looking into donating food to local food banks at the end of the day in order to give back to the community which has supported them as they have established their truck and taken root in the Hamilton Farmers’ Market.
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