Chris Wainscott, Hunter SmithChris Wainscott and student volunteer Hunter Smith shelve items donated by IT Services staff to the Campus Food Bank.

Staff members help to restock food bank shelves

Chris Wainscott remembers having to choose between paying for books and paying for food.

“When I was a student, I was working on the HelpDesk, and one of the full-time staff bought me a bagful of groceries because she could see I was losing weight,” recalls Wainscott, now a systems programmer in Information Technology Services. “It made a big impression on me.”

So when he saw media coverage that the Campus Food Bank was running low on supplies, he challenged his co-workers to help out. He delivered the resulting hundreds of donated items — from boxes of pasta to canned beans, fruit, and soup, along with $475 in monetary contributions — Friday to the food bank in Canterbury College.

“They blew away my expectations,” Wainscott says. “It really goes to show that everybody loves this place. When students need help, IT steps up.”

The donations were well-received by food bank volunteer Hunter Smith, a first-year social work student.

“We had bare shelves, but now they’re filling up,” she said as she placed the donations in cupboards. “It makes me feel appreciated that the school cares for the students who need it. It’s really great to see everyone helping out.”

Located in the basement of the Canterbury College administrative building at 2500 University Avenue West and administered by Iona College, the food bank distributes non-perishable goods to UWindsor students.