Into Spring 2026: Our Fall Recap

Hello Gators! For the last newsletter of the Fall 2025 semester, all of us here at Basic Needs would like to share with you a summary of the work and efforts we achieved so far. Firstly, we want to highlight our team’s response to helping students affected by the delay of CalFresh/EBT Benefits in early November. We were able to provide students in need with various resources, including Emergency Meal Cards (for free meal swipes at the dining halls on-campus), Emergency Grocery Gift Cards (for students to use at their local grocery store or market), and Grocery Bags (for pickup in-office, containing a few grocery staples: shelf-stable carbs, proteins, milk, grains/oats, single-meal items, etc.). In addition to the resources we provided students directly, we continued to refer students to other on-campus and off-campus assistance (like the Associated Students Food Pantry & Gator Groceries and local food pantries).

Secondly, we’re so grateful to all of you who joined us for the events we put together and hosted this semester. We organized a variety of events and workshops, from Understanding Your Financial Aid Package to discussing Medi-Cal Eligibility to Decorating a Tote Bag with CalFresh to raising awareness of intersecting barriers during Hunger & Homelessness Awareness Week to tabling across campus. Throughout the semester ,you could’ve found us at our office (SSB 301), our event space (SSB 304), the Cesar Chavez Student Center, the Malcolm X Plaza, AS Farmer’s Market, AS Food Pantry & Gator Groceries, the McKenna Theater, and more!

As the semester starts to ramp up, we would like to wish you all luck with everything and we look forward to seeing you throughout this semester!

Events we held Fall 2025:

Budget Your Bucks, Secure Your Future! (9/24/25, 4:30pm-6:00pm)

Welcome Week (10/13 – 10/16)

• Build Your Own Soda (10/13, 12:00pm-2:00pm)
• Scavenger Hunt (10/14, 2:00pm-4:00pm)
• Tote Bag Decor + Resource FAQ (10/16, 1:00pm-3:00pm)

Medi-Cal Eligibility and Enrollment Workshop (10/22, 3:30pm-5:00pm)

CalFresh Outreach Week (10/27 – 10/30)

• CalFresh Connect (10/27, all day long) – learn about new LPIEs,
• Decorate a Tote Bag (10/28, 12:30pm-2:30pm)
• Sample a Recipe (10/29, 1:00pm-2:30pm)
• Grab a Halloween Treat @ the AS Farmer’s Market (10/30, 12:30pm-2:30pm)

Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week (11/10 – 11/14)

• Winter Clothing and Professional Attire Drive (weeklong)
• Kitchen Demo + Cooking Challenge (11/13, 4:00pm-5:30pm)

CalFresh x Kinesiology Tabling (11/17, 12:30pm-2:00pm)

Gator Flix ft. Student Films w/ LCA Live – Beyond the Bridge: A Solutions to Homelessness (11/19, 5:30pm) and Screen Printing + Resource Fair (before film screening)