Meet SNAP and all the SA service has to offer.

The Student Nutrition Access Program (SNAP) has been thought of as just a food pantry for many years.

However, the Student Association (SA) program has a wide range of services to offer.

While working on eradicating food insecurity from the campus, SNAP has diversified itself into providing information on government and social programs, mental health, employment supports, a resource centre for students to socialize, and even a yearly income tax clinic.

The main goal of SNAP, however, is still to provide support on nutrition by helping students who are unable to fulfill their dietary requirements and struggle in finding accessible nutritious options.

Ronnie Cruz, community services coordinator with the SA, wants people to remember that SNAP does so much more than giving out food.

“There’s miscommunication in terms of thinking that ‘oh, if you don’t you don’t want to do groceries you can come to us and you can save money on groceries.’ That’s not who we are. Students need to know that the food hamper is an emergency food program that we offer students. It’s not a long-term solution,” said Cruz. “We want to be able to make sure that we’re serving the students who really need it. Obviously being a student, this is available to everyone, we never turn students away. But we want to be able to build tools to make sure students really do understand the purpose of the service… we want to be able to make sure that the students who really need it are actually being served and are able to access the service”

Besides the aforementioned services, SNAP is also a resource centre for information regarding nutrition, health and wellness. Being diversified as it is, SNAP hosts also several events every year that include webinars, wellness programs, and gift card programs.

During the pandemic, Cruz says the service received lower number of visitors than before. “During COVID, the number decreased significantly because we were still limited on campus but still serving the students.”

SNAP served almost 10,000 students before the pandemic, with those numbers decreasing as students were off campus.

From June 2021 to 2022, 6,000 students were served, 1,600 grocery cards were given to the students and 2,400 food hampers were delivered to students who were self-isolating and quarantining.

For the coming year, the agenda is clear for Cruz, “I will ideally love to continue to improve our services as they were pre-Covid. We would love to offer more services and continue to improve [the] virtual services that we provide.”

Delivery services are also available for students who are self-isolating, who are quarantining or might struggle with physical mobility.

If students need to use the food hamper program, or find more information about the service, they can visit www.studentassociation.ca/snap/.