With help from Facebook & give-aways, Dining Services boosts connections with commuters

By Jonathan McFadden
mcfaddenj@mytjnow.com

Winthrop’s Dining Services has one message it wants to get across to commuter students: Don’t starve.

Or, more specifically: Never Go Hungry.

This semester, Dining Services launched a “Never Go Hungry” campaign aimed at giving students more information about dining options available to them.

It’s a tagline Dining Services hopes will grab students’ attention so they can examine their options for eating on campus, said Ashley Kinnaird, marketing assistant for Dining Services.

High on the priority list are students who don’t live on campus.

“We are reaching out to commuters because not all of the students know that we offer a specific program to fit their needs,” Kinnaird said.

Now, Dining Services is on Facebook, a move that attempts to garner as much student feedback as possible.

“If there was something that students really enjoy, we like to hear about it so that we can incorporate it more often,” Kinnaird said.

The page allows Dining Services to reach students on a daily basis, providing them with news about exclusive fan-only discounts, upcoming events and healthy menu options, Kinnaird said.

“We are here to serve the students and would like to know their thoughts about what we are doing,” she said.

Kinnaird gave a handful of commuter students the rundown on cafe cash treats and deals during a Commuter Student Association meeting on Sept. 14.

Kinnaird also filled commuters in on a prize drawing if they purchased a commuter meal plan. The winner of the drawing received an Amazon Kindle.

The drawing ended Sept. 23.

The dining organization created certain promotional events for commuters “because they are not as aware of Dining Services since they do not live on campus,” Kinnaird said.

On-campus residents are required to have meal plans, but commuters have the option, which “many commuters do not realize,” Kinnaird said.

Sophomore social work major and commuter Daneequa Dixon doesn’t usually pick Thomson or Markley’s for her midday grub. 

After learning what options are available to her, Dixon said she was considering purchasing the Eagle plan, which will give her seven meals a week and $300 of cafe cash.

Living just five minutes away from campus, Dixon just travels home when the cravings begin.

For Christina Burris, a difficult evening schedule has her eating at home before coming to campus.

Instead of fretting about food, Burris’ biggest problem is with the lack of parking for commuter students.

Done with classes some days at 9:15 p.m., Burris is forced to walk to the Dinkins parking lot or library by herself.

“(I get) scared, because it’s dark,” she said.

During the CSA meeting, club president Alexis Moore told attendees that the club is rising to the point of becoming a bigger organization.

To prove her point, Moore, a sophomore elementary education major, gave a list of all open leadership positions on the organization roster.

Positions include secretary, treasurer, freshman student representative and a vice president of advocacy who will be responsible for representing the organization at Council of Student Leaders meetings.