Last Tuesday, Scott Berozi and the Kindness Day team sent out an email to the University community asking students on campus with meal plans to donate a meal swipe in order to host a lunch to “thank our Facilities and Custodial staff for all that they do in our residence halls.” This board commends the efforts of the Kindness Day team to honor the commitment of our facilities and custodial staff, and we encourage students to participate in this event — without them, our college experiences would not be the same. It is important to appreciate them, whether it is by donating a meal swipe or thanking them in person. This event has been hosted annually since 2015, with approximately 100 facilities members in attendance at the lunch in Ridgewood Commons, and with food left over afterward, according to Berozi in an email to the Justice. This event has taken place with the same meal-swipe donation logistics for the past few years.

This board acknowledges that there are some logistical difficulties that would hinder a student’s likelihood of donating their swipe. Donations will be in the form of removing one meal swipe from the 11 a.m. to 2 p.m meal period, which means students will not be able to swipe into any dining hall during that time, or must use a guest swipe or points if they would like to eat lunch between those hours on Thursday, Nov. 14. Taking the swipe away from students at one of the most popular meal times on campus complicates students’ lunch plans, especially if they have a meal plan that doesn’t include a lot of points. This unfortunate timing would deter some students who want to give back from donating their meal swipe to the luncheon. 

Some clubs ask for donations of guest meal swipes or any leftover swipes at the end of the week. This board recommends one of these options, since students rarely run out of guest swipes and plenty of students have leftover weekly swipes they would be happy to donate to programs like this. Choosing a less popular time, such as 3 p.m. to 5 p.m., may also cause more students to want to donate. In an email to the Justice, Scott Berozi explained that “the time frame is chosen to give Sodexo the time to remove the meal from the specific student meal plans who have donated. These can only be removed the day of and the actual time of lunch. Students are welcome to use points or WhoCash for meals on the day of the lunch.” The Kindness Day team did not choose the time — Soxedo did. This board encourages Sodexo to be more flexible with the logistics and timing of students donating their meal swipe, so that more students will take part in this important event.

Finally, this board encourages those involved in planning this event to think about the capacity of people in Upper Usdan as a result of more people using points on that Thursday — using a less popular meal time would address this issue. This board commends the team’s desire to make a special day to commemorate the efforts of our facilities  and custodial staff. With the money funded by students, the Department of Community Living and Sodexo can provide a nice meal to the facilities staff and custodians.