On Nov. 17, Delta gave out 200 holiday meals in the food pantry located in Shima 101. Organized by both the Basic Needs Department and Associated Students of Delta College (ASDC), the ‘meals’ were not typical meals, but rather one pumpkin pie from Costco and a 45 dollar gift card to Food 4 Less.
“Working with Basic Needs, we were able to offer more than what we have been able to in the past few years,” said Gilberto Ramahlo, Senator of College and Community Relations. “Basic Needs matched whatever ASDC would donate, so we’ve been able to give out 200 meals, twice as many as we’ve been able to in the past years.”
To receive a meal, students who are not a part of a financial support program offered by Delta had to sign up from an email sent by Student Activities on Nov. 6 and would get a meal on a first come, first serve basis. Students who were a part of CalWorks, Guardian Scholars, NextUp, and the Phoenix Project received priority registration, and were able to sign up earlier. This is different from years prior, where students had to have a Mustang Pass in order to receive the meals.
“Having the meals be open to everyone was very important to me,” said Basic Needs project manager Ana Villegas. “That was actually what I wanted to compromise on when ASDC reached out to me, asking to collaborate.”
Since the holiday giveaway, people have reached out to Basic Needs, thanking them for the meals.
“We’ve received emails about people being especially grateful for the gift cards,” said Villegas. “In the past, we’ve given out mostly ingredients, but the gift card gives people the option to choose what they want to buy. This is helpful to people who may have dietary restrictions, or if they only need to buy certain items to prepare their holiday dinners.”
Both the ASDC and Basic Needs Center hope to continue collaborating for future holiday meals.
“This year, we had 90 people from CalWorks and other groups sign up. When it was open to the general population, we hit 200 students in around seven minutes,” said Ramalho. “We would like to continue working with Basic Needs so that we can give out more meals than we would if we were working alone.”