Sr. Sue Kidd has seen her share of people in need.
Encountering hardship was not uncommon, for instance, during her two years of missionary work in Cameroon.
But the thought of students at the University of Prince Edward Island needing handouts to avoid going hungry took her by surprise.
Kidd was disheartened to learn there was a need to operate a food bank out of the Chaplaincy Centre on campus when she took charge last year of a facility that traditionally serves to provide a location to meet, socialize, pray and hold religious services.
"It amazes me,'' she said.
"They are students. Why do they need to worry about getting food on the table. They need to worry about marks.''
Hefty tuition, a youth job shortage and rising food prices means more college and university students are going to class on an empty stomach.
Twenty years ago, graduate students at the University of Alberta launched the country's first campus food bank. Today, there are more than 70, according to the network Food Banks Canada.
Sr. Joan Marie Chaisson started addressing the problem of students struggling to feed themselves at UPEI on a very personal level about 15 years ago. She would simply take hungry students out for supper.
Chaisson's initiative gradually expanded to a food bank at the Chaplaincy Centre. Today, demand is outgrowing available space. Food is stored in a small, cramped kitchen as well as stocked on shelves in a separate cupboard in the centre.
Roughly 50 students used the service during the last school year at UPEI with 15 to 20 coming on a fairly regular basis, hauling away a large bag of food once or twice a month.
At Holland College, for the past three years, a large wooden box regularly stocked with food at the Prince of Wales campus in Charlottetown has served as a place for hungry students to pick up supplies on an honour system.
Mandy O'Connell, student life co-ordinator for the Student Union of Holland College, estimates students eat through about 70 plastic bags of donated food each semester.
In smaller Holland College centres in P.E.I., she adds, faculty or administration distribute food to students "as need presents itself.''
Kidd wants to expand the food bank at the Chaplaincy Centre that currently relies largely on faculty and staff for donated food.
She welcomes donations of food and money (Kidd gives grocery store gift cards to students with an established need) to the centre. Non-perishable food items can be dropped off at the Chaplaincy Centre.
Kidd says she doesn't grill students who come looking for some food.
"I really don't screen,'' she said.
"There are different reasons why they come but I don't ask.''
One full-time mature student was surprised to learn of the service when a counselor told her about the food bank last year.
The 44-year-old student, who asked to remain anonymous, comes two to three times a month to load up on supplies, typically filling a shopping bag with pasta, canned vegetables, peanut butter and coffee among other food items. She usually leaves with a couple of $10 food gift cards as well.
The savings allows her to free up money for numerous expenses like rent, electricity, and gas for her car.
"I still take care in how I spend my money,'' she said.
The mature student, who hopes to one day open a vet clinic and a wildlife rehabilitation centre, plans to continue using the food bank while attending UPEI.
Some times, though, she tries to pick up her food at the Chaplaincy Centre when it is quiet on campus. She is not keen to broadcast the fact that she uses the service.
"You hate to be in a situation where you need free food,'' she said.
"I think it's a really good resource for the students,'' she added.
An international student who came to UPEI in 2005, earned her masters in toxicology at the Atlantic Veterinary College and is pursuing a PhD, has used the food bank for the past three years.
At first, she was not comfortable using the service.
Today, the 32-year-old woman urges other students who are in need not to hesitate in popping into the Chaplaincy Centre for free food.
She believes the food bank is still not well known to UPEI students. The service could use more publicity.
Alyssia Farrington, 20, of the Bahamas did not learn of the food bank until her second year at UPEI.
She feels no shame in using the service.
"I love bringing other people here,'' she said.
"I mean this place is amazing.''
That's not true. One of the reasons PEI is poor is the attitude that if you are poor, you don't need no education.