URI Dining Services Delivers Meals For RI Seniors: Coronavirus

KINGSTON, RI — The University of Rhode Island's Dining Services has transitioned from feeding college students to seniors. Since the campus closed to in-person classes, the department has begun cooking and packaging 500 meals per days for people in need around the state.

Last week, meals of fried chicken, shepherd's pie and more were cooked and packed into containers, needing only to be reheated by recipients. The meal program was coordinated through the university's Office of Healthy Aging and senior centers around the state.

"Our agency continues to be laser focused on supporting older adults, caregivers and adults with disabilities," Director Rosamaria Amoros Jones said. "Across the state, senior centers are serving as hubs for their community, providing valuable services to people in need and delivering thousands of meals daily. Through this partnership with URI, we’ve increased the number of nutritious meals distributed by these centers, helping to ensure older adults, who are at higher risk for severe illness, have the supports they need to stay healthy and safe at home during this time of physical distancing. We are grateful to URI for their partnership."

Gwendolyn Pugh, a food service supervisor, was one of the employees involved in a delivery last week.

"In this crazy time, I am glad we can do something like this. It feels good because people are struggling," Pugh said. "We are all trying to contribute."

Much of the university's food is purchased in advance, in bulk, and frozen. Because nearly all students are no longer on campus, there is a surplus of food in the dining halls intended for the rest of the semester and the new-student orientation sessions in June.

"There has been a big spike in the need for meals that are normally provided by senior centers," Pierre St-Germain, URI’s director of Dining Services, said. "The state asked how many meals we could produce and I replied that we could definitely package 500, so that’s what we’re doing Monday through Friday, delivering to senior centers from Cumberland to Westerly ... We work hard to ensure that our students enjoy the highest quality product, and now that food is going to the elderly food pantries around the state."

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