The SAMU Pantry is for MacEwan University Students who pay SAMU fees during the current semester. As a SAMU member, you are eligible to receive a hamper from The Pantry up to twice per month.
For eligible MacEwan students, there is no cost to you to pick up a hamper. We unfortunately can not offer support to other students or community members.
Yes. If you do not use your MacEwan student email, you are not eligible for a hamper, and your request will be cancelled.
All personal information is confidential. The demographic information is recorded in metrics to better serve the students of MacEwan University.
These are the required questions for our systems and our demographic information. This is in line with all other food support services within Canada. The questions themselves are required to answer – however there is the option within the question to opt. out of answering.
With our system we need to approve all new users before they will be able to sign into their account. This is to prevent misuse of the service. Please wait up to 4-5 business days for account approvals, you will receive your status through the email you provided. During our high volume intake months it can take up to 6-7 business days.
Yes. To be able to serve all MacEwan students, we have limits on all items. There are limits set up per item within the product description. Please do not select more than what is listed as the limit. You will only receive the limit, anything over the limit will be removed. There is also a one-hamper limit which is a little more difficult to judge when ordering online. Volunteers are trained with this in mind and will remove items that are requested in multiples where possible if the order can not fit in one bag or bin.
Currently, we are unable to supply students with perishable items such as meat, eggs, or fresh fruit and vegetables.
Once you have requested your hamper and received an email that your hamper is ready to be picked up, hampers can be picked up at the Support Hub (SA-223, the door is down the hall that is beside the vending machines on the second floor of the SAMU building between building 8 and 9).
Yes. To pick up your hamper, you must show your Student ID card to the front desk in the Support Hub (SA-223).
If you do not pick up your hamper within three business days, then volunteers will cancel your hamper and place your items back on the shelf. This means that your hamper will no longer be available. This is to support food waste. Many students use the SAMU Pantry, and this process also helps circulate our stock. If you need more time to pick up you must email us and let us know.
You will find items containing a “best before” date in your hamper. Best Before dates are set up by the manufacturer and are really about freshness, not food safety. Packaged food such as crackers, cookies, cereals and canned foods can be safely eaten long after the best-before date. Details about food and date labelling are available on the Health Canada website and Food Banks Alberta Safe Food Handling procedures. Expiry dates are not the same as best-before dates. They only apply to certain foods with strict compositional and nutritional specifications, such as baby food, infant formula, meat and milk. Our staff and volunteers are trained to check labels on all food items donated to the Pantry.