Assiniboine Students’ Association helps meet record demand

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This article was published 16/12/2023 (747 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Students’ Association at Assiniboine Community College is breathing a sigh of relief, after it was able to assist every student who had requested help this year — a number that was way up from the previous year.

“Last year, we had our application period open for a month and we received 33 requests for hampers. We call them hampers, but it’s the need for a holiday meal or help at the holidays,” said Alycia Canada, vice-president of engagement at ACCSA. “This year, within 48 hours, we had 92 applications.”

Canada said Project Red, a program that raises funds to help ACC students who are struggling during the holidays. Project Red has been helping students for the last five years and this year ACCSA received the highest number of applications. The rising cost of groceries and utilities may be a reason Canada said the applications were so high.

“The cost of tuition, the lack of jobs, even here in Brandon,” Canada said. “I know a lot of international students have had trouble finding jobs, and just raising prices and inflation that we’ve been seeing at the grocery store. It makes it hard for everybody to provide for their families and then being a student on top of that makes it even more difficult.”

In 2023, Canada said the group had raised $4,700 and was able to fill all the requests. This year the number of applications was overwhelming, and the ACCSA was worried it would have to turn applicants away.

“We were concerned when we saw how many applications there were. We were scared we were not going to be able to fill it. But people came out and really outdid themselves in being able to fill the need,” Canada said.

She said the ACCSA joined forces with the Assiniboine Community College Foundation, ACC staff and the Dock on Princess — in November, one dollar from every Dock Burger was donated to Project Red. ACC president and CEO Mark Frison even used his column space in The Brandon Sun to promote the campaign. The ACC Foundation drummed up support from alumni.

With a concentrated effort over the last month and all the ACC community aid, the ACCSA was able to raise more than $10,000, meeting the need of every application. They were even able to help another 30 applicants on the waiting list.

Canada said the ACCSA was able to assist 300 individuals, giving 125 grocery gift cards to individuals, couples and families. She said the ACCSA chose to give gift cards instead of hampers because of the diverse cultural backgrounds of students.

“We do have a large international population here at Assiniboine Community College. What a traditional dinner would be for everybody is going to look completely different. So we thought that going about it this way, would ensure that people were able to get what they would need or want, versus just giving them something that they may not even know how to cook,” Canada said.

Students were picking up their gift cards this week.

» khenderson@brandonsun.com