Swipe It Forward

What is food insecurity?  

“The inability to acquire or consume an adequate diet quality or sufficient quantity of food in socially acceptable ways, or the uncertainty that one will be able to do so.” - Health Canada  

Swipe It Forward

The Swipe It Forward program provides students in need with short-term, urgent support for access to nutritious meals. Short-term can be defined as up to 6 to 8 weeks.  

SIF collaborates with campus partners to best support those in need holistically. Recognizing that access to affordable and nutritious food is a multifaceted issue impacted by the social determinants of health, our referring partners work together to better understand the disruptions to food access, the cycle of food insecurity, their link to chronic conditions, and the ripple effect that the stress of hunger causes.

The goals of SIF are to reduce the stigma around food access on campus and provide dignified resources to those in need.

How SIF works 

Meal plan holders may be off-campus for a weekend, on holidays, or choose to dine off-campus and may not use their full weekly allotment of meals. SIF allows the option to donate one meal per day, up to five per semester, to a student in need by simply asking a cashier to Swipe It Forward.  

*Meal donations must be from the plan holder’s current weekly allotment, not past or future week meals.  

How can you access the program?  

Contact one of the SIF program partners listed below for a referral to the program. Within 1-3 business days, SIF meals are loaded onto your student card for confidential use at dining hall on campus. Dining hall meals are not available to-go, and meals loaded are not available to be redeemed from retail locations.

Individual circumstances determine the meal allocations, with a maximum allotment of 25 meals per term per student. SIF meal plans expire at the end of the academic year. All meals are non-transferable and are only accessible by the student cardholder. Guest vouchers are not included in this program. 

To verify meals have been loaded onto your student card:  

• Login to the Student Residence Portal & Dining Portal 
• Ask a dining hall cashier for your meal plan balance