USC has closed the doors to an on-campus late-night free meal service that offered a hot meal at no cost to students and members of the community experiencing financial need. The program’s suspension is the result of USC’s $10 million acquisition of the United University Church on 34th Street, according to property records.
The Late Night Cafe, which is still listed as a top resource for low-income students by both the Provost’s office and the USC Initiative to End Homelessness, was operated by the church on Wednesday nights until April.
The program ran under the supervision of the Reverends Matthias Peterson-Brandt and Glenn Libby, of the non-USC-affiliated United University Church and the USC Canterbury Foundation, respectively. Day-to-day operations, such as writing grant proposals, planning, cooking and serving, were all handled by student members of USC Canterbury, according to Libby.
USC Canterbury, a progressive Christian fellowship, is a student group that prides itself on its open-mindedness and contemporary attitude. The group, which targeted its meal program to students but accepted anyone seeking sustenance, experienced a great deal of success with its program over time. Libby estimates that, over the course of his tenure overseeing the meal program, the number of plates served went from 30 to 150 per night.
Wednesdays this semester, though, anyone stopping by the church seeking a warm meal may be surprised to find an empty building. USC finalized its purchase of the building from the United University Church in late 2018, with the last meal taking place on April 24, 2019. The church relocated to a new location in June, Libby said.
Despite the grant-based nature of the Late Night Cafe’s funding, the limitations on such an organized activity appear more structural than monetary. USC’s policy prevents any university facilities being used to serve non-university-produced food, like that previously prepared by the Canterbury students. With USC’s acquisition of the building, the church is now officially a full part of the USC campus, prohibiting any sort of distribution program being based there.
If a program were to operate out of a USC facility, it would have to be funded, operated and approved by the university itself.
Some students who benefited from the meal service were surprised and disappointed to hear of its closure.
“It’s a big loss,” said Sajani Raja, a senior in the health program. Raja is on the Executive Board of Queer People of Color, a club which used to take members to the Late Night Cafe following their Wednesday meetings.
“I’m privileged enough to have food security, but definitely not everyone in QPoC is,” they said.
Raja described the Cafe as a “welcoming environment,” and lamented that their group had been unable to find a substitute program.
USC has yet to formally announce any replacement program of its own. Varun Soni, vice provost of Campus Wellness and dean of Religious Life, said although he and Libby would like to see the Late Night Cafe active again, they face a whole host of barriers to that goal.
“We need to figure out the logistical challenges, such as staffing, storage and funding moving forward,” said Soni.
The private United University Church, a union Methodist-Presbyterian congregation, which is now located roughly a mile and a half away in North University Park, has established its own food bank program. It is not an official resource for USC students, however.
While this particular program is no longer available to food insecure students, there are other resources to be found for assistance at USC. For example, the Trojan Pantry, located at Parkside Apartments, is the most substantial option available on campus. Still, many are hopeful they’ll see the return of the Late Night Cafe.
Soni and Libby, just like the cafe’s former participants, hope that return will be “in the not so distant future.”