Why we are fighting for our food

With a vote of 14-9-2, the Student Assembly passes a resolution to allocate funds to Anabel’s Grocery

Over the past few months, the team for Anabel’s Grocery has been pushing to receive funds for a student-run grocery store that aims to combat food insecurity on our campus by providing healthy, affordable and accessible food to students.

In a Student Assembly meeting yesterday, the Anabel’s Grocery resolution that will provide $320,000 from the Students Helping Students fund to support the grocery store was passed.

Student Assembly meeting

The dissent regarding the resolution was mostly caused by the fact the proposed business model won’t be financial sustainable, and that the Green Star co-operative currently under construction will create too much competition.

Additionally, representatives from the Muslim community highlighted that the grocery store will be located in Anabel Taylor Hall, a building used for religious purposes for people of all faiths, and therefore expressed hesitation because the store may serve meat products which could negatively impact the building’s ability to serve as a safe space for various religious groups.

However, referencing a similar initiative at Georgetown University that has an annual revenue upward of $2 million, the board of Anabel’s Grocery contended that not only is the model financially feasible, but actually profitable.

Additionally, the board provided figures to argue the pricing strategy vastly differs from that of Green Star, and will no doubt be a more affordable option for students.

One of the grocery stores currently available on campus

According to a PULSE survey, 22 percentof students report experiencing food insecurity during the school year. And both those for and those opposed to the resolution agreed food insecurity is no doubt a problem on our campus.

So why has getting this initiative passed been so difficult?

When commenting on the actions of the student assembly a board member for Anabel’s Grocery said: “You only took the first 20 minutes of this meeting to vote on allocating one million dollars. The intricacy of these questions we are being asked is far above what is being asked of the other organizations that are requesting funding.”

Further, the SA LGBTQ representative, Philip Titcomb, said: “We know food insecurity is a problem for many students. It’s time we stop trying to act like bureaucrats and start legislating what is in the best interest of these students.”

A number of Cornellians at the meeting also took the floor to express their experiences “studying hungry and making excuses to friends” because of their food insecurity.

As a student who has personally experienced food insecurity, this issue is close to home. While I believe many do care deeply about this issue on our campus, I was disappointed by some of the comments of the dissenters who asked “why students don’t make more use of the buses to Wegman’s,” as if that is an option for the students here dealing with food insecurity.

Moreover, I think our system of passing resolutions is often so plagued by bureaucracy that it is very difficult to turn words into action.

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