Texas A&M Executive Dining staff gave back to Big Event volunteers on Saturday, surprising students at two specific locations with a free meal from the “Gig’em & Go” food truck.
Dining Services chose the locations at random in Bryan and College Station to bring food to, said Aggie Dining Marketing Director Courtney Bryant.
Pat Crawford, one of the participating residents in The Big Event, said she was surprised to find out the A&M Dining was bringing food to her site.
“We were excited that dining services was bringing food, they told us they were going bring food for everyone and we were absolutely thrilled,” Crawford said. “These have been the best young people I have ever met. They’ve just been wonderful, so its been a huge blessing all the way around.”
Student volunteers had been working at their locations for several hours when the Dining Services truck pulled up to give them a lunch break.
Environmental design sophomore and student volunteer Hannah Galbraith said she was initially surprised when the truck stopped at her site.
“At first I thought they were trying to sell us food,” Galbraith said. “But it was really nice to them to come out here. We’ve been out here all day so it was pretty cool.”
The meal provided for students included a Southwestern Burger, french fries, a soda and a cookie. Senior Executive Chef Marc Cruz and his fellow chefs cooked both the burgers and fries on location.
Bryant said Cruz’s Southwestern Burger was a new recipe created specifically for The Big Event volunteers. The burgers received positive reviews from the students.
Sociology major and Big Event volunteer Emily Berman said that she enjoyed the meal, especially the burger.
“Its amazing,” Berman said. “It pops in your mouth and has a little tinge of spice. I was surprised, and thought that this was one of the best lunches that I have ever had.”
Bryant said it was very gratifying to see students who were working for the community enjoy the meal.
“The team developed the idea and we thought it would be a great time to jump in,” Bryant said. “Since we had the food truck, we had the ability to go out and do it so was the perfect time .And burgers are easy and everyone loves burgers, so it was a good year to do it. It’s always really gratifying to see students enjoy what we’ve prepared for them. We love food and we love people so it’s really fun and always exciting, especially when we get to go out into the community.”
Alexcis Mendoza, Class of 2013 and Aggie Dining Marketing manager was one of the people helping deliver the food and said she participated in The Big Event as a student.
“It was very natural to me because I did Big Event all three years as a student and it made me proud of the company I worked for and the University I attended,” Mendoza said. “Big event is a beautiful things, and Chartwells’ partnering with Big Event was even more special to me. It really did mean something else to me, having that Aggie Ring on my finger and be serving the students who are also serving the community.”
Cruz said serving Big Event was a rewarding experience and overall the burgers went over as a success.
“It’s what we do , feeding the masses at A&M with 59,00 students,” Cruz said. “We had our A-team here and had a good time with all the management feeding everyone for a good cause . It was a team effort and it all came together very well.”
