Donors and Community Partners

Thank you to save on Foods west for donating over $1000 worth of seeds to our students. These seeds will be used in the Campus Roots Community Garden initiative and other student engagement events! We would also like to thank you for donating more then 500 bags of groceries to students.

Dr. Mather is currently a faculty member of the Psychology Department at the University of Lethbridge. Her areas of expertise include behaviour of cephalopod molluscs (octopuses and squid) Schizophrenia, Women in Science, and Excellence in University teaching. She is highly dedicated to providing students with meaningful education and ensuring student wellness remains high at the U of L. In Fall of 2022, she supervised an independent study in the Psychology department where the student performed a survey about food insecurity amongst fellow psychology students. Beyond, this work Dr. Mather continues to strive for accessibility and advocacy in the fight against food insecurity.

Why did you want to get involved? What is important to you as a donor?
Initially I wanted to give some money to the Food Bank or a similar program because someone commented to me that it wasn’t just students that used it, there were others working on campus that needed it too. While students are often poor, we take it for granted that this is temporary, but I thought it was totally unacceptable that others on campus were long term so poor that they needed to use the Food Bank.

Why Food for Thought?
The quote “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach him to fish and you feed him for life”. The Food Bank should be a stopgap, we need (to do) more. Then I began to read about Food Deserts, and to realize that the campus is one. This has to change.

Would you recommend getting involved with the Food for Thought program? Why?
As a member of the campus community? Because, as COVID-19 has emphasized, we are all in this together and should all help each other.

As a student? You aren’t passive receivers of an education but participants in a campus community. You should help others, and in the process, you will find friendship and skills that will stay with you for life.

What are you excited to see moving forward?
The education component. Students often come to campus with little knowledge of good food, how to maximize their money, how to make healthy choices… even recipes for how to cook simple cheap food quickly. We are an educational institution, but there’s lots more to learn here than what is offered in the classroom.

Thinking Ahead Giving Back (TAGB) is Chartwells’ vision and commitment to being a collaborative thought partner in creating a safe, dynamic, and thriving campus community. Through TAGB, food insecurity is one of the challenges we are tackling together with our community partners. The Food for Thought program at the U of Lethbridge is an excellent example of this.

Not only does this program assist with actual food insecurity but it also gives students a learning opportunity in this discipline. Chartwells is pleased to be able to support The Food For Thought program through Agility and eagerly wait the initiatives students pursue each year. In Fall of 2023, an applied studies student worked closely with us to organize a nutritious meal offered to about 90 students during two workshops put on by Food For Thought.

Thank you so much to the Cobs Bread on the Southside for donating hundreds of loafs of bread to students.

Thank you so much Dr. Shelley Hoover for donating boxes of locally grown honey for our students. We are so grateful. 

Thank you so much Michele Konschuh for providing our students with hundreds of potatoes. These potatoes were locally grown by Michele herself here in Lethbridge and given to more than 50 students on campus.