Food for Thought could open Tuesday

Student-run Food For Thought Cafe could reopen by next Tuesday, after the Student Fee Committee approved a new $32,592 budget releasing funds that had been frozen to the caf퀌�’s reserve since the beginning of the year.

The cafe was originally slated to open on the first day of classes, but could not do so because the Student Fee Committee (SFC) was still waiting for documentation needed to validate a request made in January for the cafe’s proposed $96,695 budget.

John Lambert, Food For Thought’s Student Activities and Leadership Programs (SALP) liaison, said after Thursday’s meeting that with luck, the cafe could open on a limited basis on Monday, serving coffee and other beverages.

“On Tuesday for sure it will be back to business as usual,” Lambert said.

Lambert said he’d like to put together a party for students and other customers with free food and drink and live music, hoping to get the word out that the cafe is open. Money for such a gathering would come from the cafe’s advertising budget, he said.

Lambert and his co-workers submitted a budget to the SFC that cut more than $65,000 from the one originally turned in to the committee last year. The January budget proposal was created by staff members who are no longer Portland State students. Lambert said the amount of money the caf퀌� requested was completely unnecessary.

Amanda Newberg, chair of the SFC, said after the meeting that the six-person committee was impressed by the effort the cafe’s team had put into preparing for the meeting.

“Ever since the Food For Thought folks found out about this, they have been totally proactive and have done amazing work to put everything together in a clear, concise way,” Newberg said.

Five of the six committee members voted to release the funds, with one abstention. Aubrey Lindstrom, who abstained, chose not to vote because she had been a member of the Food For Thought cooperative in the past.

Lambert credited help from the cafe’s SALP advisor, Natalee Webb, as well as assistance from Newberg, for the success.

“It is an incredible relief to get this approved so we can all get back to work,” Lambert said.

Kathryn Johnston, a 21-year-old sophomore who has worked at the caf퀌� for three years, said she’s happy to get back to her usual early morning routine of steaming milk for lattes and brewing batches of Stumptown Coffee.

“I’m really looking forward to it,” Johnston said. “It is sad that we got shuffled under all that paperwork.”