Our Food First program aims to address the growing issues of food and health insecurity among Brock University students. Food banks, meal programs and other resources in the Niagara community can also offer support to students in need.
Grocery Assistance Available
Brock University students (registered undergraduate and graduate students) can apply for an emergency grocery card through the link below, which will aid students with some grocery during their time at Brock. This service is designed to assist with food and health accessibility and is not intended to be a primary source of food for any one student.
BUSU members (undergraduate students) can apply for an emergency grocery card twice in the periods below. GSA members (undergraduate students) can apply for an emergency grocery card once in the periods below. There are a limited number of grocery cards available per month, and when unavailable, the request form will be turned off.
Periods to apply for emergency grocery cards:
- May 1 to August 16, 2024
- September 9 to December 13, 2024
- January 6 to April 25, 2025
Requests are reviewed Monday through Friday, between the BUSU office hours of 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. However, please allow up to five (5) business days to process the request. If you have met your limit and are in an emergency situation, you can send a request directly to frontdesk@brockbusu.ca and it will be reviewed.
Students will receive an email to confirm approved requests, as well as an electronic code to access their grocery card.Request Support
Free Breakfast & Food Events
BUSU hosts various free breakfast and free food events throughout the Fall & Winter semesters.
Grab & Go is available Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays from 8:30 to 10:30 a.m. outside of Union Station, and provides you with snacks to help keep your energy up for a great day of learning.
Free Hot Breakfast pops up once a month inside Union Station, and provides you with hot breakfast items, fruit and juice* to get your day started.
Snacks can also be found in the BUSU office to help keep your hunger at bay while going to class or studying.
BUSU also hosts a number of other free food events through out the year. Upcoming food events will be listed below if available.
Community Resources
Food Fed Forward
Looking for fresh locally sourced produce? The Food Fed Forward program by Small Scale Farms has emergency food available to those in need. They also have pay what you can produce pick up available in Niagara.
VISIT FOOD FED FORWARD
If you are looking for further community resources visit 211ontario.ca and use their handy search function.
Food Savings apps
Flipp collects all store fliers in an area and provides easy access to all deals in 1 place. Using this in combination with WalMart’s price matching policy will allow you to get all available deals in 1 location.
You can download Flipp for Android or iOS HERE
Flashfoods will tell you what nearby grocery stores are selling foods that are approaching their best before/expiration date and will be marked down considerably from their original price.
You can download Flashfoods HERE
Online Recipe forums
If you’re looking for a community that shares cheap and healthy recipes check out the r/EatCheapandHealthy subreddit. There are recipes and tips for saving money.
VISIT THE EAT CHEAP AND HEALTHY SUBREDDIT
Want to support our Food First Program?
*Please note, for security purposes, you will need to log into our site to donate. Select the login option in the top right corner. If you are not a student at Brock, select "Register New Account". Thanks for your support!
Thank you to our Partners!
Brock Dining Services, Brock Housing Services, Brock Sports, Pen Centre, BMO, CIBC, City of St. Catharines, Zehrs – Pen Centre, Prime Student, TD, TBooth, Scotiabank, Rogers, Foundry Lofts, Parkway Lofts, Town of Lincoln – Youth Skills Studio, Anytime Fitness, Shoppers Drug Mart – Pen Centre,