In a matter of 50 minutes, 500 boxed meals were prepared from scratch. Sounds easy enough for a world-renowned culinary institution, but that was just a drill for what will more likely be 6,000 meals. In the event of a true disaster anywhere in the state, the university will open its culinary labs to the American Red Cross and SUBWAY® restaurants of North Carolina to provide meals for victims.

To get ready for an event of such magnitude, JWU students and employees, SUBWAY® franchisees, Red Cross staff and other support personnel conducted an emergency food preparedness drill in August.

“Charlotte is an ideal staging area due to its central location and our ability to reach disaster victims anywhere in the state within four to five hours,” said Pamela Jefsen, chapter executive of the Carolina Piedmont Region American Red Cross, which encompasses 14 counties in North Carolina. “We’re grateful to JWU and SUBWAY® for helping our organization provide basic needs to those most in need.”

Twenty-five people lined up to slice bread, assemble sandwiches, gather condiments and box everything up using supplies donated by companies including SUBWAY®, Kraft Foods Inc. and Butterball®. Harry Peemoeller, instructor and bread expert, was a bit out of his element when handed the job of folding turkey instead of shaping dough, but noted, “The more you make, it gets faster and faster; you get into a rhythm.”

Following the drill, the boxed meals were delivered to the Uptown Shelter. Staffers say the drill went better than anyone could have imagined. The team filled the final box an hour sooner than expected.

If a disaster hits and there are at least 3,000 victims, the alliance will be asked to recruit 10 to 12 times the number of volunteers lined up during rehearsal. They will need to bake 160 loaves of bread every 30 minutes and collect 610 boxes of foods.

In August 2005, displaced families from Hurricane Katrina were relocated to cities throughout the state. The Red Cross estimates more than 27,000 meals were provided over a two-week period. And, when Hurricanes Fran and Ivan hit the Tar Heel state in 2004, the Red Cross served more than 73,000.

Recyclers Leave No Waste in Haste
Sometimes it’s just easier to leave items behind, rather than cram them in with bathing suits and flip-flops. As students moved out last spring, Residential Life made recycling easy with a Don’t Waste in a Haste program. Mops, ironing boards, cleaning supplies, sheets and lamps were saved from becoming junk at the local landfill. Students piled up their throw-aways on donation tables or hauled them to a Salvation Army truck conveniently parked right outside their doors. A load of treasures was given to various nonprofit organizations around Charlotte.

Residential students donated close to $5,000 worth of goods, according to Samantha Ledford, residential life coordinator. “I am really looking forward to improving this program for next year and including more of our campus’ community partners.”

To help nudge the recycling efforts along, trash rooms were closed a week before vacation so students wouldn’t throw all of their “trash” away.