ASHLAND — Ashland University has donated hundreds of pounds of its surplus food to local institutions that are continuing to feed community members during the COVID-19 pandemic within only the past few weeks.
Following Ashland University’s mid-March decision to suspend face-to-face classes for the remainder of the spring semester, the Ashland University Dining Services began giving its extra food to the Ashland Council on Aging, The Salvation Army Kroc Center and Ashland High School.
“We are thankful to the Kroc Center, The Council on Aging and Associated Charities who are able to take these items and fill a need in the community… We use the last four to six weeks of the semester to run down our inventory in anticipation of the students leaving for the semester and obviously that didn’t happen,” general manger of dining operations, Fred Geib said.
Perishable items were the first to go. A large variety of milk and non-dairy milk items, intended to meet the dietary needs of all AU students, were donated, including Almond Milk, 2% Milk, Whole Milk, and Chocolate Soy Milk. Other dairy items donated included 30 pounds of cheese, 70 pounds of sour cream, 10 pounds of cottage cheese and 96 pounds of yogurt.
The dairy and other perishable items were easy to identify as products to donate. It was clear they wouldn’t last until the university reopened.
“You can imagine how time consuming a process it would be to have to look at expiration dates on every single item in your inventory to determine if it will make it to the re-opening of operations,” Geib said.
Fresh fruits and vegetables, too, were donated in mass quantities. AU gave away 96 pounds of broccoli florets, 24 pounds of baby carrots, 18 pounds of red grapes, 30 pounds of zucchini, 10 pounds of asparagus and 60 pounds of tossed salad mix.
Many of the donations were directed towards the Salvation Army and Council on Aging, but deli meet and cheese went to Ashland High School for its meal pick-up and delivery services. The high school received 120 pounds of deli meat and 60 pounds of sliced cheddar cheese to serve students in need.
“It’s been devastating for us. We have seven different venues that we had to close which entailed removing inventory, shutting down equipment, and then trying to receive credit where we could from our food vendors,” Geib said. “We are used to serving 2,800 meals a day along with numerous catering events a day and that all came to a screeching halt overnight.”
Students who were unable to leave campus are provided with “to go meals” seven days per week until the end of the semester, May 8.
