Red River College alumni Shelley Cook and Veronica Rosin are helping to promote a project Creative Communications students are working on: a donation drive for the Red River College Students’ Association (RRCSA) Food Bank. The initiative, called Meals in Motion, asks grads and members of the wider RRC community to donate money, food, and affordable meal ideas to help students stretch their grocery budgets.

When Cook was a Creative Communications student, she worked several jobs to supplement her income, while attending school full time. Juggling work and homework is a relatively normal student experience, but Cook didn’t realize how much she was suffering until an instructor reached out to see if she needed help.

“My struggle felt heavy,” Cook said, in a column for the Winnipeg Free Press.

Rosin faced a similar experience when she was a student, working multiple jobs and trying to put food on the table. And even though she knew the RRCSA Food Bank existed, for a time, the stigma of accessing the food bank held her back from getting the help she needed.

“It doesn’t need to be that hard,” said Rosin, in her Meals in Motion impact story. “This resource is there, so it doesn’t need to be that hard for you.”

The second-year Creative Communications students responsible for the Meals In Motion initiative are now reaching out to alumni and the public to help students in need, recognizing that the COVID-19 pandemic has brought with it many financial challenges for students.

How you can help:

• Make a financial donation online.
• Sign up to make up a hamper with the ingredients for one of the meals featured on the site, or one of your own; or simply donate non-perishable food to help a student make a meal of their own. *Students will be collecting food donations in a COVID-safe way on Saturday, March 13.
• Submit your best student budget meal hack to the growing recipe collection, which will serve as a resource for RRC students for years to come.
• Share this initiative with your family, friends, and online community – and encourage them to do the same. There are posts on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook ready to be shared – every little bit helps!