Munch at the Mauthe

By Maddy Majewski, Kirstynne Hock & Emily Goggins

 

Hungry?

 

Dinner for Two has been a Mauthe Center tradition on campus every Tuesday evening from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. Students can donate $2 and receive a home-cooked meal made by local community members. This means students can avoid spending money off-campus, as well as avoid spending money on campus catered foods. 

This past Tuesday, the menu items for students and community members were spaghetti, garlic bread, juice, fruit, and pumpkin bread. For the spaghetti sauce, the community members who cooked the meal provided two different sauces—one with meat sauce and one meatless option.

First-time volunteer, Vivian, greeted guests at the door. She mentioned students write their name, email, and donation amount (example: $2) before walking over to the food line. Vivian mentioned, “Students can also use passpoints at the Mauthe Center to donate $2.”

Eric Wojtalewicz, the Mauthe Center’s intern who is focusing on health awareness, suicide awareness, and self-care, stated that “volunteers cook for students and create meals.” Other volunteers are needed to set up the event and serve the students and community.

Maggie Sauner is a Social Justice intern. Sauner knows the behind-the-scenes roles on how Dinner for Two is run. She stated that “Dinner for Two is a weekly event that happens every Tuesday organized by Richard Mauthe where organizations can choose to sponsor or volunteer to help with preparing and serving meals to primarily students… hosts can range from religious organizations to any organization that would like to support The Richard Mauthe Center. Students will often help serve and prepare the food, as it is a wonderful opportunity to fulfill volunteer and/or community service hours. All proceeds made from the Dinner for Two events help support the UWGB Campus Cupboard and the Campus Closet.” When asked about attendance, Sauner said, “during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, our average number tends to be in the range of 12-18 attendees.”

Abby Ledvina, who oversees all the programming and operations at the Mauthe Center, shared her intake about the event. When talking about the community and students on campus, Ledvina shares that the event “helps build community support and awareness around food insecurity.  It provides an inexpensive meal for students on campus. It provides the community an opportunity to serve within their community. Helps everyone get the essential foods and toiletries they need.” According to Ledvina, people should come to the event to “eat food and have a non-judgemental space to enjoy a meal to help support other students at UWGB.” The most challenging part of the meal prep is getting the word out to students, Ledvina said.

Dinner for Two will be available until December 7th and will start again in the spring semester. Ledvina’s final statement to students is “bring a friend.”