University of Mary Washington Dining demonstrates best practices during blizzard

On Thursday, January 21st, the University of Mary Washington announced that the entire campus, including dining services, would be closed on the following Saturday due to the anticipated arrival of a massive snowstorm. Students would have to “shelter in place” in residence halls for safety.

Since students wouldn’t be able to go out for food, the University of Mary Washington Dining by Sodexo team immediately went into action to ensure food was available in their residences during the weekend blizzard.

Sodexo Production Manager Vladimir Kanurin ordered a special truck load of food and bottled water that arrived the next day at 6 a.m., at which time dozens of workers quickly began preparing over 4,500 bagged meals.

At the direction of Executive Chef Andreas Ortner, each meal contained fruit, pastries, snacks, and a variety of meat, vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free and even allergen-free sandwiches so that no student would be left out.

At noon all the meals had been prepared, bagged and skillfully assembled for efficient distribution in the ballroom of the University Center. As students thronged the ballroom that Friday afternoon to pick up their meals they were greeted at the door by Sodexo’s Student Dining Ambassadors, who gave them quick and easy instructions on how collect their meals.

Inside the ballroom other team members swiftly and cheerfully handed them meals and water, thus ensuring that the lines moved along surprisingly quickly. By 4 p.m. the snow was beginning to pile up, but all the meals had been distributed and students were ready to brace for the storm.

At the same time, Resident Dining Director John McIntyre, Dining Manager Cathy Harris and a small band of Sodexo’s resident dining team were hard at work serving the students’ dinner at the Top of the University Center, making sure they would get a good hot meal before being snowed in.

By the time the team finished serving dinner and closing down the room the snowstorm was in full force. General Manager Roy Platt had planned ahead and secured hotel rooms nearby for everyone. This ensured the safety of the dining team and also enabled them to be right back on campus early Sunday morning to re-open the restaurants at the University Center.

By the end of the day on Saturday over a foot and a half of snow had blanketed Fredericksburg and most of Virginia. The sub-freezing temperatures also caused the streets to become sheets of ice. The snow and ice caused the entire region to be shut down for several days.

UMW students, however, were well-fed and cared for by Sodexo’s dining team throughout the snow emergency.
One worker, Estelle Coleman, walked over a mile in the snow and arrived by 5 a.m. on Sunday morning to prepare breakfast.

According to Rose Benedict, Sodexo unit marketing coordinator, students were understandably surprised and very grateful to the entire Sodexo Campus Dining team for their dedication and genuine concern for their welfare.

(PHOTO CAPTION: Left to Right: Desi Giles, Raymunda Rauer, Pilar Caceres, Lauren Jaminet, Bess Luebke, Joyce Farrell)