In December 2024, Cornell’s Office of Student and Campus Life (SCL) chose not to renew its affiliation and funding agreement with the Center for Transformative Action (CTA), which houses Anabel’s Grocery and 34 other nonprofit social change organizations. Without this support, Anabel’s is at risk of closure in May.
We, the student leaders of Anabel’s Grocery, urge Cornellians to respond. Sign our petition requesting the University continue its longstanding financial support of CTA, and share testimonials on how Anabel’s and other CTA programs have impacted your Cornell experience.
Anabel’s – A Model of Cornell’s Mission:
Cornell’s To Do the Greatest Good campaign positions the University as a “source of solutions” through “creative, evidence-based” learning and community partnerships. Anabel’s Grocery is featured prominently on the University’s signage, embodying its ambitious $5 billion campaign.
A student-run nonprofit, Anabel’s Grocery provides fresh, affordable, and nutritious food to the Cornell community. As part of CTA, a 501(c)(3) umbrella organization that is legally separate from but affiliated with Cornell, we source primarily from Ithaca-based farmers and producers and subsidize essential items to remain below conventional grocery store prices. More than a grocery store, Anabel’s is a hands-on learning experience in nonprofit management that tackles the dual challenges of food insecurity and food waste while meeting diverse dietary, nutritional and cultural needs.
Anabel’s partners with local student-run producers such as Dilmun Hill Student Farm and the Cornell Hydroponics Club to host community dinners, farm tours and cooking events that cultivate a sense of community and raise awareness of Cornell’s farm-to-table network. “Eating here with these people makes me feel like I belong at Cornell. Thank you for all the love and generosity,” said a recent attendee — because Anabel’s doesn’t just bring food to the table, it brings community.
Serving over 600 customers weekly and 20,000 unique customers to date, Anabel’s is recognized as an “affordable food resource” by Cornell Health and an embodiment of the University’s Health Promoting Campus mission. We are celebrated as a social entrepreneurship program by Entrepreneurship at Cornell and as an affordable food resource by Cornell Dining. Our work has been featured by the New York City Food Policy Center, Inside Higher Ed, the Cornell Chronicle and Cornell’s alumni publication.
The Role of CTA and SCL’s Withdrawal:
Anabel’s exists because of CTA, which bears the sole legal and fiduciary responsibility for our store. CTA holds our grocery license and insurance, processes vendor payments and manages bookkeeping. It also secured USDA approval for Anabel’s to accept SNAP-EBT, making us the only location on campus to do so.
CTA has been affiliated with Cornell since 1971, when it was established with the help of endowment-related funding to assume responsibility for Cornell United Religious Work’s social service projects. On Dec. 13, 2024, SCL Vice President Ryan Lombardi notified CTA that SCL would end this 53-year collaboration, redirecting $100,000+ in annual endowment income and granting a grace period until June 2027 for CTA to find an alternative funding source.
This decision means that in fall 2025 Anabel’s Grocery may have to shut its doors.
The Consequences of SCL’s Decision:
Vice President Lombardi did not call for CTA’s closure in his letter. Rather, he acknowledged that Cornell values CTA and its far-reaching social impact on the Cornell and Ithaca community but claimed that it no longer aligns with Cornell United Religious Work’s original intent, and presumably that of the newer Office of Spirituality and Meaning Making. SCL’s withdrawal of financial support for CTA in two years means that Dr. Anke Wessels, the Executive Director of CTA and professor of the Anabel’s Grocery course (AEM 3385), must now focus all her energy on CTA’s financial sustainability and away from teaching the course. It means that Anabel’s must secure new faculty support and raise the funds to hire a part-time store manager and ensure our products remain affordable. And it means that we as students are bearing the unwarranted burden of running our store this semester while figuring out how to safeguard our efforts for future Cornellians, without SCL’s support of CTA.
CTA’s Value to Cornell:
Already, CTA has strengthened Cornell’s reputation as a forward-thinking institution. Its programs are highlighted in Cornell tours, and prospective students reference Anabel’s in applications. Students at other universities have even reached out to us wanting to replicate the Anabel’s model at their own institutions. CTA provides legal and back office infrastructure for innovative social impact initiatives like Open Doors English, which provides English classes to refugees and immigrants, and the Gayogo̱hó꞉nǫ’ Learning Project, which preserves the language of the Cayuga Nation through educational programs. CTA also fiscally sponsors initiatives born from community-engaged research by Cornellians, such as the Center on Gender and Extreme Sentencing, Remark Navigation (an extension of Cornell’s popular Prison Education Program) and the Christopherson Center for Community Planning. Recently, CTA facilitated High Road Ithaca internships for ILR students and hosted New York’s Empire State Service Corps interns for SNAP outreach.
All of these initiatives are undermined by SCL’s decision to sever its funding agreement with CTA — one that is the envy of our peer institutions and whose value far exceeds the annual endowment income CTA receives.
University administrators have assured us they are working to find a new affiliation agreement for CTA within Cornell but say it likely won’t include funding. The problem is that an affiliation agreement, while certainly valuable, still leaves Anabel’s and CTA in a possibly untenable financial bind.
Fighting for Anabel’s — and How You Can Join Us:
A small yet determined team of students is working tirelessly — meeting with faculty, alumni and student leaders, drafting Student Assembly proposals and reaching out to off-campus allies who recognize our value. We have two immediate goals: secure $25,000 this semester and $75,000 annually thereafter to keep Anabel’s running, and enlist one or more current Cornell professors in co-teaching the Anabel’s course so that our work and the learning it fosters does not disappear.
To students, faculty, staff and friends: We urge you to sign our petition requesting that Cornell restore CTA’s funding. Share with us how Anabel’s and CTA’s other programs have benefitted you. Email us at [email protected] with ideas, connections or support.
Cornell’s administration should be proud to stand by CTA and to financially support initiatives advancing the inclusive pedagogy and community partnerships that this University celebrates. We call on Cornell to reinstate its funding so CTA can continue to deepen its commitment to social action — and To Do the Greatest Good.
Sincerely,
Anabel’s Grocery Students and Alumni
Trisha Bhujle, Environment and Sustainability ’26
Ella Wilkinson, Nutritional Sciences ’25
Jacob Blizard, Environment and Sustainability ’25
Noa Dijstelbloem, Agricultural Sciences ’25
Teagan Smith, Environmental Engineering ’25
Reid Fleishman, Information Science ’25
Elinor Behlman, Environment and Sustainability ’26
Blythe Van Ness, Environment and Sustainability ’26
Dylan Rodgers, Environment and Sustainability ’23
Alexandra Mantilla, International Agriculture and Rural Development ’24
Hannah Guan, Nutritional Sciences ’25
Roxy Moore, Environment and Sustainability ’24
Eric Dong, English ’24
Matthew Sorge, International Agriculture and Rural Development ’21
Emma Smith, Nutritional Sciences ’22
Rachel Reich, Human Development ’22
Ryan Stasolla, Interdisciplinary Studies ’21
Sara Gamaleldin, Food Science ’20
Talia Greenberg, Design and Environmental Analysis ’21
Martin Brice, Landscape Architecture ’25
Madeline Demers, Computer and Information Sciences ’25
Parker Platkin, Human Development ’25
Matthew Norman-Ariztía, Plant Sciences ’25
Felicity Wu, Mechanical Engineering ’28
Qatalina Hubbard, Human Biology, Health, and Society ’26
Jeffrey Xue, Food Science ’27
Olivia Fisher, Environment & Sustainability ’25
Eric Li, Food Science ’26
Olivia Cheung, Biological Sciences ’25
Isla Chadsey, Agricultural Science ’27
Holly Zhang, Applied Economics and Management ‘’27
Robert H. Hendricks, Government ‘17, J.D. ‘19 (Founder of Anabel’s)
Angela Cao, Chemistry and Chemical Biology ’25
Jacqueline Rangel Elizarraraz, Environment and Sustainability ’26
Sholape Fashemo, AEM ‘24
Karim Dergal, Information Science ’25
Zachary Desrosiers, Environment and Sustainability ’25
Milan Poland, Food Science ’25
Ananya Seelam, Computer Science ’24
Emma Johnston, Government ’16 (Founder of Anabel’s)
Matthew Stefanko, Government and Economics ’16 (Founder of Anabel’s)
Eliza Gifford, Environment & Sustainability ’24
Laura Wang, Information Science ’25
Adam Shelepak, Policy Analysis and Management ’17 (Founder of Anabel’s)
Lizzi Gorman, Development Sociology ’18 (Founder of Anabel’s)
Alexander Lu, Nutritional Sciences ’27
Jamie Scanlan, Global and Public Health Sciences ’28
Dylan Oster, Food Science ’28
Ann Jie Teo, Nutritional Sciences ’27
Pew Pitakanonda, Biological Sciences ’25
Linh Bui, Hotel Administration ’24
Carl Chen, Information Science ’24
Joy Chen, Policy Analysis and Management ’24
Anna Doñate, Policy Analysis and Management ’24
Kira Walter, Communication ’26
Alexandra Donovan, Architecture ’18 (Founder of Anabel’s)
Nicholas Karavolias, Agricultural Sciences ’17
Hannah Reichel, Urban and Regional Studies ’17 (Founder of Anabel’s)
Silochanie Miller, Biological Engineering ’26
Emma Sbrollini, Policy Analysis and Management ’22
Anabel’s Grocery is a student-run nonprofit initiative operated by a team of undergraduates each semester. The team can be reached at [email protected].
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