Saturday morning, the University of New Brunswick hosted their Halt the Hunger colour run, which is a fundraiser for Fredericton's Greener Village Food Bank.
"With the way food insecurity is going on right now all around Canada, it was high time UNB took a stance on that and did something not just for the students but the entire community,” said Arnab Taranga, fundraising chair for the University of New Brunswick Student Union (NBUSU).
The first time event drew about 60 runners, many of which were students who donated towards the cause.
Greener Village says their numbers of people in need are almost double what they were this time last year, serving about 1,900 households, which adds up to about 6,000 people.
"It's now a regular occurrence every month, there's students who just can't manage,” said Greg Doucet, senior manager of service at Greener Village Food Bank.
“Just like many households, because they need help and that's what we're there for,” Doucet said.
Many of the runners were students, and they say they're really feeling the hit of inflation this year.
"I'm living at home right now I wanted to live outside of my house obviously, but it's just too expensive to afford groceries and stuff,” said Summer Belliveau, a 3rd year student.
"Speaking as a student we're already paying a lot for university itself,” said 5th year student Mira Alexander.
“There's definitely a crisis and it's hard to find affordable rent,” Alexander said.
Doucet says about 10 per cent of food bank users in Fredericton are students.
"It's a sign of the time and the economy that we live in,” he said.
“We believe with all our hearts that no one should go hungry and so we do everything we can to make sure that doesn’t happen."
The run raised more than $1,200 for the Greener Village Food bank.
"Right now UNBSU is creating their own foodbank in partnership with Greener Village, just for students” Taranga said.
“We have received immense support for that from the community and that is going on for all the students,” he said.
The student union hopes to have the student food bank operational later this semester.
