Soup + Bread Night continues to raise money for Feed My People

University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire students hope to raise more than $2,000 to feed the less fortunate through a Soup and Bread Night initiative Wednesday, February 26. The dinner will take place from 4 p.m. to midnight at Riverview Café in Hilltop Center. The goal of the student-run effort is to serve 4,000 or more people while raising awareness of hunger in the Chippewa Valley.

Students have selected soups, breads and beverages to replace the usual evening and late-night menus.

The meal will be served by volunteers from a number of student organizations and members of the Blugold Dining Committee. All savings in labor and food costs will be donated to Feed My People, an Eau Claire food pantry that distributes donated food and other products to nonprofit agencies that serve senior citizens, single parents, the working poor, the homeless, the mentally ill and others in need throughout the Chippewa Valley.

All students, staff, faculty and the general public are invited to Soup and Bread Night. The cash price is $7.78 plus tax; those using their Blugold Account will receive 10 percent off the cash price. Meal plan participants will be charged the regular admission price.

A campus tradition since 1995, Soup and Bread Night has raised more than $17,000 for Feed My People.

GLOBAL CHEF – Experience the Flavors of Russia

COME TASTE WHAT PEOPLE ARE TALKING ABOUT!

The Global Chef Program is bringing authentic international cuisine to campus. One of Sodexo’s talented chefs has traveled thousands of miles and time zones to cook especially for you.

 

UW-Eau Claire and Blugold Dining will welcome Chef Boris Martynov who will share the flavors of Russia with the campus community. Special Russian-themed meal events will take place Monday, February 10 in Riverview Café for dinner and Tuesday, February 11 in The Dulany Inn for lunch.

 

ABOUT CHEF BORIS MARTYNOV
Inspired by family leisurely weekend afternoons in the kitchen, Chef Boris Martynov has always been passionate about food.  His culinary career began more than 45 years ago as a teenager growing up in the Moscow countryside. From the very beginning, Boris prided himself on providing guests with an extraordinary experience they would always remember. Starting his career as a chef at Moscow city airline terminal, Boris was passionate about creating good food and inspiring Russians and country guests to expand local palates.

 

Boris served 2 years in the USSR Armed forces. His next post was at the USSR Social Sciences Academy and the USSR State Logistics Committee. Moving forward, Boris Martynov was appointed Executive Chef of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs. It was Boris’s guiding philosophy of sustainability that drew him to Sodexo. For the past 17 years, Boris has supervised and inspired numerous young chefs to reveal their creative talents. Committed to Sodexo Diversity & Inclusion initiatives, Chef Martynov gives his time and expertise to students throughout their externship program at Sodexo to provide them with real industry experience. On numerous occasions Boris advised and assisted with the opening of food restaurants at business centers, food canteens at industrial sites and dining-rooms at remote sites all over the country.

 

His talent, hard work and in-depth knowledge of national cuisine have brought him success throughout Russia. For four years, Boris used his culinary talents to provide catering for the Moscow Kremlin Cup, a professional tennis tournament. Chef Martynov never stops mastering his skills to achieve excellence in his chosen profession. He believes that, “the world no longer belongs to those who know but to those who learn.” Sodexo is proud to have him as a corporate chef of Sodexo Russia.

Blugold Dining is celebrating its largest food drive event ever at UW-Eau Claire

A total of 4,960 pounds of food and $872 in cash was collected and donated to the Feed My People Food Bank through a recent University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire initiative to fight hunger and help those in need in the Chippewa Valley.

 

Blugold Dining sponsored the Helping Hands Across America food drive Nov. 19, at all campus dining locations. In addition to individual donations, six campus groups collected more than 400 pounds of food and $515 in cash in response to Blugold Dining's challenge for group participation. The Putnam Hall Staff collected the most food per person.

 

The entire Blugold Dining family was recognized for their dedication to UW-Eau Claire students and their support of the Helping Hands initiative, which provides Feed My People Food Bank with one of its largest food drive donations.

 

More than 14,500 individuals each month -- 39 percent of them children -- rely on food received from programs supplied by Feed My People. With UW-Eau Claire’s donation, Feed My People will be able to provide 7,967 meals to our neighbors in need.

 

The nonperishable food items collected on the UW-Eau Claire campus will help senior citizens, single parents, the working poor, the homeless, the mentally ill and others in need throughout the Chippewa Valley. For every dollar donated, Feed My People can obtain and distribute seven pounds of food worth more than $10. More than six million pounds of food was distributed in 2012 to hunger-relief agencies in 14 counties in west-central Wisconsin.

The OFFICIAL BLUGOLD SANDWICH contest is almost complete!

Blugold Dining is partnering with E&G Franchise Systems to create the Official Blugold Sandwich that will become a part of the Erbert and Gerbert’s Bistro daily menu here at UW-Eau Claire. It’s Blugold history in the making!

The contest began early this semester where we collected recipe submissions from members of the University campus community. Students, faculty and staff were encouraged to build and submit their favorite recipe online at our special Sandwich Builder site—much like building and ordering a pizza online. Those who submitted recipes were personally thanked with a coupon for a free cookie redeemable at Erbert and Gerbert’s Bistro in Davies Center.

The next phase of the contest was the voting process. Blugold Dining worked together with E&G to narrow the sandwich submissions down to three finalists based on the most popular ingredients and similar recipes. The voting website became available on Monday, October 7 and officially closed on Friday, October 25 at midnight.

There were a number of sampling opportunities around campus for students, faculty and staff to try out the three finalists during the voting phase. We hosted three smaller events in The Cabin, Hilltop Center and at a Dining Committee meeting which were followed by two large sampling events held Tuesday and Wednesday, October 22-23 from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. between Hibbard Hall and Zorn Arena.

There were random drawings for Blugold Dining gift cards Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday of the final week of voting. Not only did we have eight lucky gift card winners, but we ended up with just shy of 500 voters who played a part in creating Blugold history!

The final phase of the Official Blugold Sandwich contest is to unveil the winning sandwich. Stay tuned for the big announcement which will include a time for the creator of the winning sandwich to make history in being the first to order the Official Blugold Sandwich!

Go Orange for No Kid Hungry

Orange is a bold color, and the No Kid Hungry campaign has an equally bold solution for ending childhood hunger in America.

This September, join Share Our Strength's No Kid Hungry campaign to raise awareness that 1 in 5 children in America face hunger. It's a problem we can solve, and it's time to get involved. Show your support by wearing orange this month, and together let's end childhood hunger in America.

 

Mobile pre-ordering debuts at select locations

Blugold Dining at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire has been given a mobile upgrade with the official launch of Tapingo, an online to-go ordering system available in select locations. Customers can use their smartphone, tablet or computer to order food and beverages for pickup, and no longer need to wait in long lines to place their order.

For students, the arrival of Tapingo means that they are now able to sit in class, the library or their residence hall and place an order, then simply skip the line when picking it up. All orders are charged directly to meal plans or credit/debit cards – exactly the same as a normal in-store transaction.

 

Locations available at launch include The Cabin and Erbert & Gerbert's Bistro in Davies Center, and Freshens and Green Mountain Coffee at The Dugout in Hilltop Center.

 

Tapingo's free native iPhone and Android apps are available in the iTunes App Store, as well as the Android Marketplace. Orders may also be placed online.

 

Payment methods include all Blugold Dining meal plans, Blugold Account, debit card, American Express, MasterCard, Visa and PayPal.

 

Tapingo is the leading mobile ordering solution for campuses around the United States, delivering a targeted and expedited service for on-the-go consumers while improving operational efficiency for merchants.

 

Sodexo has provided Blugold Dining service on the UW-Eau Claire campus since 2002. The Blugold Dining program is administered by the University Centers, a Student Affairs unit of UW-Eau Claire.

Soup & Bread Night Raises Over $2,000

University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire students raised $2,174.51 for Feed My People, the only food bank in west central Wisconsin, through the Blugold Dining program's recent Soup and Bread Night initiative.

Students selected soups, breads and beverages to replace the usual evening and late-night meals at Riverview Cafe in Hilltop Center. The Feb. 13 event was attended by 2,201 people, who were served by volunteers from a number of student organizations and members of the Blugold Dining committee. The proceeds to be given to Feed My People will consist of a donation from Blugold Dining as the savings in labor and food costs, as well as cash donations collected during the event.

Emily Moore, executive director of Feed My People Food Bank, will be invited to an upcoming Blugold Dining committee meeting to accept the donation.

Feed My People Food Bank distributes donated food to more than 100 agencies serving senior citizens, single parents, the working poor, the homeless, the mentally ill and others in need throughout the Chippewa Valley. About six million pounds of food is distributed each year to hunger relief agencies in 14 counties. In 2012 more than 60,000 individuals living in west central Wisconsin -- about 38 percent of them children -- relied on food they received from programs supplied by Feed My People.