Feeding the masses

By Aurora Ferreira 

Only three workers of the nearly 100 employees braved the blizzard to come to campus to help feed students, scrambling to find ways to feed as many as possible quickly. 

Commons Culinary Supervisor Alana Burr, one of the three workers on campus during the nor’easter, and one of the two workers in the kitchen, said they worked hard to feed everyone.  

“We did the best we could with whoever showed up, which ended up being only two of us in the kitchen. We did what we could to keep food on the line for everybody,” Burr said. 

On Monday, February 23 Stonehill Campus was closed due to a historical blizzard, with winds in the 70 miles per hour range and over twenty inches of snow. The two together created low visibility, making it difficult to travel and navigate the roads. But General Manager Jeremy Weaver, Alana Burr, and Corey Chamberlin still made it to campus to feed what seemed like an ever-growing line of hungry students. 

Senior Sarah Hawks, a residential student, traveled from the senior courts to the Commons for both lunch and dinner through the storm. 

“For dinner, the line was wrapped outside the dining hall. It took us an hour from when we entered the dining hall to get food,” Hawks said. 

While those working in the Commons worked prepping meals, making sure there was a small variety for students who needed alternative options, there were still more students than the three people could reasonably handle. 

“We had way more kids than we could really prepare for,” Burr said. 

She said so many students were lining up for food that they ran out of plates multiple times. They even had to switch to using paper disposable plates and bowls to keep up with student demands. 

“The general manager was in the dish room cleaning up dishes because we kept running out. He was in there the whole time, all of us doing what we could to keep up,” Burr said. 

The storm’s conditions were so bad that these workers had to stay on campus, sleeping in Bon Appétit’s office space. One student, who was off campus during the storm, recalled something she saw on Yik Yak. 

“I was really surprised to see online that some of the workers actually stayed overnight so they could prepare food for the next day. I’m surprised they were willing to stay away from their families that long,” said senior Kacie Altwein. 

“It wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be, to be honest. Luckily, I had good coworkers,” said Burr.