100 signatures reached
To: Colorado State University Administration, RamRide, and Rams Against Hunger
Food Justice for CSU
CSU students are food insecure.
A RamRide and Rams Against Hunger Collaborative with funding from the University can increase access to easy transportation and healthy food for our fellow Rams.
RamRide only runs in the late evenings Thursday-Saturday when the food bank is closed. RamRide does not have enough funding or volunteers to extend its hours. Through financial support, while fostering collaboration between RamRide and Rams Against Hunger, we can better serve our community and make sure everyone has increased access to healthy food.
Why is this important?
We need to focus on providing more accessible food relief for Colorado State University students experiencing food insecurity.
According to a CSU survey conducted in the Fall of 2013, approximately 10% of students at Colorado State University experience food insecurity. According to a 2019 petition by social work students, 3 out of 10 students face food insecurity at CSU.
Rams take care of Rams. Our community is committed to solving food insecurity. This year's Giving Tuesday, Colorado State University raised more than $100,000 for Rams Against Hunger, providing 13,352 meals for students.
Our ASCSU administration is also committed to solving this crisis. We have pocket pantries that provide free food across campus. We have the mobile food pantry that comes to campus once a month for two hours where students can get up to 20 pounds of food. But the average person consumes an estimated 4 pounds of food a day. This is not enough. At this rate, students who are relying solely on the mobile food pantry do not have enough food to last a week, let alone a month.
It takes more than an hour for a student to travel from the CSU campus to the Larimer County Food Bank using the city bus system. Oftentimes, students do not have the during the weekday to take an over two-hour journey for free healthy food. RamRide only runs in the late evenings Thursday-Saturday when the food bank is closed. RamRide does not have enough funding or volunteers to extend its hours so that they may bring students to the food bank.
Our students without a car also struggle with carrying the weight of groceries long distances. Imagine having to carry over 20 pounds of food while walking back to your home, riding your bike, or taking the city busses. Our students need better transportation for food.
Our commitment to solving this problem can continue. We need to call on the University to extend their support of our food-insecure students by funding RamRide so that everyone has increased access to healthy food. We must further show that Rams do take care of Rams.