It’s a surprising sight for many students: long lines and empty shelves at the Basic Needs Hub, Cal State Monterey Bay’s (CSUMB) on-campus food bank. These occurrences, which rarely happened in previous semesters, have left many students wondering: “What’s going on at Basic Needs?”
“I feel the anger from the students, like, ‘I can’t get my food. It runs out so quickly,’” said Maya Bañuelos, a fifth-year marine science major and student assistant at Basic Needs.
“Sometimes we’ll be [restocking], and a whole bunch of people are lined up outside the gate. It can be a little chaotic,” Bañuelos added.
According to Robyn DoCanto, Basic Needs hub coordinator, the Hub is facing unprecedented increase in demand, which comes as no surprise with this year seeing CSUMB’s largest-ever incoming class of both first-year and transfer students.
“Last year, we had 45,000 visits…this semester we’ve already had 16,000 visits and it’s only October,” DoCanto said. “We used to see about 60 to 80 people a day when I started in fall 2022. Now, we’ve had 500 person days, and most days land around 280 to 380.”
DoCanto explained that this increase in demand is exacerbated by widespread changes in the economy. Compared to “what the cost of things used to be, [food prices are] just significantly higher,” she said.
“We used to be able to spend about $400 a week at the food bank and fill three, four or five vehicles. Now, one or two pallets [of food] is $1,200 to $1,400,” DoCanto said.
In conjunction with these economic pressures, the variety of sources that Basic Needs gets its food from is changing, as in the case of Shoreline Community Church in Monterey, which because of these higher prices is forced to limit its donations and is no longer able to provide donations to the Hub. “The accessibility of food is just way less than in the past,” Do Canto said.
Despite the increased pressure, Basic Needs’ funding remains unchanged from past semesters–$20,000 a year–a budget which according to DoCanto is, “very, very small.”
To meet the rising demand, Basic Needs has been creative in sourcing CSUMB students enough food. The Hub has welcomed donations from a range of sources across Monterey County, such as local cauliflower growers and Monterey’s Paris Bakery.
“I spend at least 15 hours a week running around the county trying to collect as much food as possible,” DoCanto said.
Basic Needs also uses other programs that lie outside of their $20,000 budget to help students get assistance, including CalFresh and the Emergency Food Assistance Program. According to DoCanto, students can find a wide range of ways to get assistance by filling out a Basic Needs referral form, which connects them to programs assisting needs beyond solely food such as housing, clothing and toiletries.
Despite the changes and hurdles facing Basic Needs, “our mission is not going away,” DoCanto said. “We want no Otter to go hungry by any means.”
Thanks to the variety of resources available at Basic Needs and, in no doubt, the dedication of those involved, its role in providing assistance to CSUMB’s students continues.
“I rarely see someone walk out empty-handed,” said DoCanto. “The main point is that if you are food insecure or you are housing insecure or you have any other type of basic needs insecurity, come and talk with us and see what we can do.”