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Arts & Entertainment

Food for Fines

Sarah Bruce - Arts & Entertainment Editor

Everyone has forgotten to return a library book ever now and then…

Those fines add up, but what if there was a way to pay them off and support fellow starving students by donating non-perishable items to the campus food bank.

“Students can bring an item for the food bank and this year we are going back to supporting the students with the food bank here,” said Nancy Levesque, TRU’s library director.

“Some years we support the city of Kamloops food bank but I like that we can help students,” Levesque said. “Students helping students is a good thing.”

The Food for Fines program at the library has been run for several years now.

“We do it at the end of the semester to try to motivate students to bring back the books that they have out,” Levesque said. “You can bring back your books and we will waive the fines if you bring an item for the food bank.

“I am trying to encourage responsible behavior; it is all about sharing,” she said. “We really want students to use the books they need for their courses and then bring them back so that other students can use them.”

“It really is a serious issue because so often now books are going out of print,” Levesque said. “If students forget to bring a book back and then misplace it and it gets lost somewhere along the way … it is very expensive for us to buy a book that has gone out of print.”

“You read in the news that all the food banks are low and I think that if we start with our own students first and help them then that’s great,” Levesque said. “It is good publicity to remind us the food banks have a need all year and not just at Christmas time.”

The campus food bank is run by TRUSU and offers assistance to any starving student in need.

“The TRUSU Food Bank does food drives several times a semester,” said Dustin Grof, TRUSU’s service coordinator. “Occasionally we get donations from individuals, but most of the food comes from the food drives we do around halloween, christmas, and at our TRUSU events.”

“For a student to collect a package from the TRUSU Food Bank, they simply stop by the Members' Services Desk in the Independent Centre or phone 250 828 5289 to arrange for pickup,” Grof said. “Packages are usually made available within 30 minutes and students are able to make requests if they have allergies or special diets.”

“Every box helps,” Levesque said. Last April $500 in fines was waived and 13 big boxes of food were collected thanks to student’s contributions.

“We feel by waiving the fines with the food bank items the students at TRU who need food can benefit but also it is a good incentive for students to bring back books.”