American River College’s Associated Student Body voted to help bring a farmers market to campus, during their April 7 meeting. The vote allowed the allocation of up to $1,000 to the Environmental Protection Club to host the event which is tentatively planned for late April.. 

Before the vote, the board opened the floor to the public. EPC’s President John Doherty spoke about the club’s goals for the event and what it would look like.

“We see this as a really good opportunity to provide fresh food to students, especially because most of the food options on campus involve vending machines,” Doherty said.

He said that the club has a lot of steam going and is working hard to make the event the best it can be.

“We intend to have eight-to-11 vendors, and we reached out to the art and music departments for entertainment,” Doherty said.

Doherty said that he wanted to include a learning experience to the market as well.

“We’re trying to create an event that people will come to, and while they’re there, we can also help educate them on sustainability,” Doherty said.

The ASB board also passed S23R3, a resolution that would require that all “non-critical” materials purchased by the ASB to be sustainable and ethically sourced. 

The board discussed how they are starting at that level, for now, but hope to expand the action campus-wide.

“We would start senate focused because trying to get these standards to be followed by people outside the senate is going to be a little tricky. But we should set an example first,” said Maksim Yeremuk, senate whip.

Yeremuk expressed how board members should contact ASB’s at other Los Rios Colleges and encourage them to pass a similar resolution.

ASB also swore in a new senator, Abeer Alharbi.

Alharbi said helping students who also come from foreign countries motivated her to join the senate, and she is excited to be part of the board.