People’s Potato wants stability

The People’s Potato is a student-run kitchen, operating on a not-for-profit basis that offers daily vegetarian lunches to students in the basement of Reggie’s on a pay-what-you-can basis.
It is a service of the Concordia Student’s Union (CSU) and is run by the Concordia Food Collective (CFC), an organization that is concerned with social justice and food politics.
The mandate of the People’s Potato is to provide nutritious food for hungry students. It is providing a minimum of 250 meals for every school day of 2000-01.
The People’s Potato kitchen has been operating this past year, with the support of the university, on an informal basis with funding coming from donations, a small catering service, student fees of $0.05 per credit (as approved in a student referendum last spring), bakery sales and monies from the Concordia University Alumni Association.
CFC would like to change this arrangement to a system where funding is secure. This would allow them to put their energy into increasing their daily capacity to serve free food.
They have two questions in the upcoming student referendum that address these issues.

1) Are you in favour of implementing a fee levy of $0.25 per credit adjusted for the C.P.I. for a 5 year period starting in Fall 2001 and ending in Winter 2006 to support the People’s Potato Project Collective which provides one free meal every weekday during the fall and winter academic semesters with the understanding that every union member can request a full refund of the fee from the People’s Potato Project Collective if he/she desires?
The People’s Potato wants to continue offering their services without making financial payment a condition for receiving food. This is to ensure that their service remains “inclusive” and that all segments of the student population, in particular those who are down to one meal a day or less, will have access to regular nutritious meals.
Zev Tiefenbach, project co-ordinator for People’s Potato, said that “securing funds is a volatile and time consuming process” and that CFC would prefer to channel its energy into its mandate of preparing and serving food.
Because fund-raising is also political and therefore, uncertain, Tiefenbach felt that a fee levy of $0.25 per credit would ensure the viability and stability of the People’s Potato for the next five years. He also said it would allow them to continue their operations as is or to increase their capacity for operating the food service.

2) Do you agree with the following statement? We, the students of Concordia demand that the V.R. Services allocate additional kitchen space, cooking equipment, serving space, and seating space on the 7th floor to the People’s Potato Project Collective, as outlined in a “Proposal for a Complementary Food Operation on the 7th Floor of the Cafeteria Space,” submitted to the university administration on January 31st, in order for the People’s Potato to significantly increase their daily capacity to serve free food.
At the present time, the People’s Potato uses three spaces to offer lunches to students. Food is prepared in their kitchen, a portion of the larger cafeteria kitchen on the seventh floor of the Hall Building. It has its own stoves, refrigerators, storage and countertops. Hot food is transported from the seventh floor kitchen to the basement of Reggie’s, where it is served. Afterwards, dishes are washed in the Java U kitchen on Mezzanine level.
This system is labour-intensive and creates logistical problems. “The People’s Potato must be responsible for the cleaning of three separate facilities on three separate floors,” said Tiefenbach.
He also felt the transportation of hot fluids and food through the university is dangerous and needs to be addressed. Also, the service space in Reggie’s basement does not meet the large demand for seating. There are line ups and long waiting periods.
The People’s Potato wants to consolidate its operations on the seventh floor of the Hall Building to become more efficient. They are also requesting additional kitchen space in order to increase their serving capacity in response to growing demand.

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