Concordia Food Coalition Wants Fee-Levy Increase

Group Hopes to Take Over Mother Hubbard’s Vegan Service, Replace Aramark

NewsMiriam Lafontaine — Published November 20, 2017 | Updated November 21, 2017 at 12:02pm

This article has been updated.

The group focuses on creating sustainable food systems at Concordia, and assisted in setting up the Hive Café. The CFC also helps fund student projects focused on urban agriculture, sustainability, food education, and organic waste management.

Their ultimate goal is to replace Aramark, Concordia’s current food provider, so that a student-led cafeteria could take its place instead.

At their annual general assembly Thursday night, Internal Coordinator Sebastien DiPoi said the group needed more resources so they could deal with their rapidly growing organization.

Without a fee-levy increase, their projected deficit runs at $22,977, but with an increased fee-levy, their deficit is projected to run at $4,342.

With more resources, Reichert said the CFC’s three main employees—herself, DiPoi, and external coordinator Christale Terris—would be able to work more hours. DiPoi and Terris’ hours could jump from 15 hours a week to 25 hours per week, and Reichert’s could jump from 10 hours a week to 15 hours a week.

Regardless of whether they get the fee-levy increase or not, funding that goes towards the CFC’s numerous groups will stay the same. Some of their groups include Sprouting Minds, Concordia Pollinators Initiative and Vermi-Cycle Concordia.

DiPoi mentioned at the AGM that their first year groups will now have their funding capped at $1,000 per year, while groups older than two years will be capped at $750 a year. Groups in need of more can apply for extra funding, with first year groups eligible to receive an extra $500 if approved, and older groups eligible for $250 if approved.

Terris also announced at the AGM that the CFC is looking to take over Mother Hubbard’s, a $2 vegan dinner service run by Concordia’s Multi-Faith and Spirituality Centre that happens every Thursday night.

“Mother Hubbard’s has been successful for quite some time, but unfortunately they were experiencing their own lack of capacity,” said Terris. “So we decided to slowly take on Mother Hubbard’s, with the idea of next year having it be fully absorbed in the CFC as our own project.”

A previous iteration of this article misinterpreted the CFC’s projected deficit as a debt. The CFC does not have any debt. The Link regrets this error.