Over 1,000 lbs of food prepared for Thanksgving
When over 600 projected students walk into the 16th annual Thanksgiving Dinner held by Waynesburg University’s faculty and staff, everything will already be prepared.
The napkins will be folded, the plates and silverware will be set and the food will–hopefully–be fully cooked.
However, with everything looking perfectly prepared, the students aren’t often aware of just how much preparation goes into making the Thanksgiving Dinner a success.
According to Lesley Davis, the food service director on campus, the cafeteria workers begin cooking and preparing food for the Thanksgiving Dinner about two days prior.
“We usually start baking the turkeys around midnight around two days before,” said Davis.
There is a lot of cooking to be done. Last year, there were 550 pounds of turkey, 400 pounds of potatoes, 25 gallons of gravy, 120 pies and 320 pounds of vegetables.
All of that was made for 690 students, served by 40 faculty/staff members and prepared by 50 cafeteria workers.
Although Davis said they have the Thanksgiving Dinner portions down to a science after 16 years, having leftovers is still a minor possibility. She says the dining hall, though, is always focused on not wasting their food.
“We always donate our extra food to St. Ann’s every Tuesday, so of course the Thanksgiving Dinner food would apply,” said Davis.
Although it only takes a few days to cook all of the food, both the food and dining ware are ordered weeks in advanced. This includes bowls, trays, extra pitchers, extra silverware and tablecloths.
The annual dinner is served in two rounds: round one spans from 4:30-5:30 p.m. and round two is from 6-7 p.m.
This results in a very short turn-around time of about 30 minutes for the staff to clean up in between rounds.
“That’s where the faculty really becomes a huge help,” said Davis.
Despite the amount of work put in by the faculty and staff, Davis said the Thanksgiving Dinner is always worth the effort.
“We love doing it on our part because we know it’s something special,” said Davis.
“There’s not really any other universities that do this out there. When I do presentations and I talk to other schools, they always get really excited.”
Davis said the Thanksgiving Dinner also allows for the dining hall to show a little extra gratitude towards the students.
“The students are like our kids,” said Davis. “Sometimes they don’t feel that way about us, but in our hearts, we feel that these guys are our kids.”