News Brief: KSA makes changes to Grassroots Cafe, looking for more food bank support
The next KSA council and executive meeting will be on May 26 at 10:00 am and 2:00 pm. (File photo)
The Kwantlen Student Association held their first executive meeting of the month on May 5 at 2:00 pm in a hybrid format.
President and VP University Affairs Abdullah Randhawa, VP External Affairs Jasmine Kaur Kochhar, VP Finance & Operations Jashandeep Singh, and VP Student Life Jashan Singh Sekhon were in attendance.
After a land acknowledgement, the minutes for the April 21 executive meeting were approved. Guest Ashima Goyal presented a Telus phone plan discount for Kwantlen Polytechnic University students. Goyal asked to hold an event on campus or spread awareness about the plan on the table in front of the KSA Surrey campus office.
In Executive Director Parveen Sehra’s report, she said the Grassroots Cafe will have a full scale transformation to bring fresh air and energy to the area. So far, they have replaced the furniture and approved $1,680 to repaint the cafe.
“The Grassroots looks completely different now,” Sehra said in her report. “We’re just in the beginning stages of what we want to do with Grassroots.”
“I think the Grassroots will become a hub on campus. If the council wants to take it that way, I think it’s a really great opportunity for them.”
Sehra also said the KSA is working with KPU to increase funds into the KSA Food Bank as they have seen more demand in the program. She said Samridhi Arora, the member services coordinator, is to give the university statistics on what the KSA spends per month on the food bank to figure out what’s the best way to support them.
“More frequently, there’s more demand for the food bank. Any support we can get from KPU is greatly appreciated.”
The KSA is in the final stages of looking for an events coordinator position and should have someone in the role soon. The association’s collaboration with KPU for student orientation days also went really well as the event is usually organized separately.
In Randhawa’s report, he said he went to the Langley campus last week to spread awareness about KSA, and has still been training in his new role. The KSA is planning to have a KPU Marathon at the end of June, which is still in the works, and organize a Model United Nations conference in collaboration with KPU political science instructors in the fall semester.
In her report, Kochhar said she has been preparing for the Canadian Alliance of Student Associations (CASA) conference happening this month, has been going to orientations across the campuses, and attended an event hosted by the RCMP about preventing break-ins.
In Singh’s report, he said he has been working on committee honorariums and promoting the KSA’s website and social media pages to students around campus so they can stay up to date with upcoming events.
Sekhon’s report said he is working closely with the student life committee to work with KPU and is planning to create more student life events on-campus.
The next council meeting is scheduled May 26 at 10:00 am, and the executive meeting is at 2:00 pm in Birch 250 at the Surrey campus and through Microsoft Teams. Students can email info@kusa.ca to join the meeting.
