When Sodexo made its debut in the fall semester, the new food provider became the hot topic of campus conversation. The positives and negatives of various aspects of the dining experience were fiercely debated and weighed against its predecessor, Aramark.
Whether or not the switch was a win in terms of students' personal dietary needs and preferences, Sodexo has had a positive impact on a group of people you won't see on campus, though they are linked to the our community nevertheless.
The Hunger and Homelessness division of Waltham Group, Brandeis's community service umbrella organization, has experienced positive improvements over the past semester to their Brandeis Be Our Guest program under the direction and assistance of Sodexo employees.
BBOG provides services to Waltham's food insecure population. They partner with the Waltham Community Day Center to provide weekly Friday meals to the people who visit the center.
The program was started in 2010 by Elizabeth Stoker '13, who as a student came up with the clever idea of collecting unused guest meals from students' meal plans and donating them toward those in need.
Although the program was originally founded in partnership with Aramark, when Sodexo took over Brandeis dining services, they became even more involved.
"Sodexo has definitely been an improvement over Aramark," said Max Shpilman '16, one of four Hunger and Homelessness coordinators. He observed that under Aramark, the meals were often lacking in a number of food groups, especially protein, and often consisted primarily of salad. "The guests noticed," Shpilman said.
Sodexo provides consistent, balanced meals every week. University dietician Kate Moran ensures that this happens by consulting with the chef to develop the menu. "[The meal] always has a protein, a vegetable, a starch or whole grain and then a bread, fruit and dessert," Moran said.
Sometimes, the meals are tailored to fit a particular theme. On Thanksgiving, for example, they served turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and corn.
They usually have enough food so that the guests and the volunteers can eat together. For every guest meal donated, Sodexo provides one pound of food. With over 600 guest meals donated in the fall 2013 semester, they bring roughly 20 pounds of food to the Community Day Center every week.
In addition to putting more serious thought into the nutritional value of the meals served, Moran and a dining services chef accompany the BBOG volunteers to the soup kitchen every week.
"Having Kate there is such a big help because she knows what she's doing," said Shpilman. Moran helps the students prepare and serve the food properly. In the beginning of the semester, Sodexo also held workshops for the volunteers on nutrition and safe food preparation practices.
Moran said she feels fortunate to be using her nutrition knowledge to help those in need. "For some people this is there only meal of the day, it's really rewarding for me in that I know I'm providing them a healthy meal," Moran said.
BBOG is not a typical soup kitchen volunteer program. "We really emphasize interaction, that's really half of our programming," said Shpilman. "Our volunteers see it as a chance to bond with the guests. ... It's really an opportunity to bring that community closer to our community."
Petra Nelson '15 agrees. "My co-coordinators and I have been focusing on ways to facilitate even more interaction between guests and students than we've ever had before, and they seem to be working," she noted in an e-mail to the Justice.
Shpilman indicated that on an average week, they serve approximately 15 guests and have eight volunteers, making for a friendly setting that encourages meaningful relationships. In addition to eating, they often bring games like chess or checkers to further get to know each other. They also teamed but with Brandeis Beats, a student drum circle on campus, to bring music performance and participation to the center.
BBOG is a major component of Hunger and Homelessness, but the group has teamed up with Sodexo on other occasions to provide food for the day center. On Kindness Day, they bagged over 200 bags of what they call granola "Nosh" to donate to the Center.
The center currently shares a space with the First Presbyterian Church of Waltham, making it difficult for the center to dictate their hours. "They don't have access to the shelter for as long as we would like them to," as they are closed on weekends and after four," Shpilman said. This dilemma prompted the center to recently purchase a new location on Feldon Street in a building that was formerly Franca's Pizzeria.
Shpilman said that they plan to start a Hunger and Homelessness blog for those who cannot come to the shelter on Fridays but would still like to take part in the discussion.
"They have very few people to communicate with and be close to them and share their stories. ... [I]t's important to show them that there are people who care about them," Shpilman said.