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A look at how school and college dining programs served during Winter Storm Uri

We take a look in at the social media accounts of the University of Houston, Houston ISD, Austin ISD, Texas A&M University and the University of North Texas.

Becky Schilling, Group Content Director/Editor-in-chief

February 24, 2021

13 Slides
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Joe Raedle / Staff / Getty Images News

Last week, Winter Storm Uri hit the Southern United States with vigor. While many states felt Uri’s wrath, Texas, in particular, felt the brunt of the burden. With power down—and still out for many—water supplies either cut off or under boil-water alerts, millions of people were without the necessities, including food.

As they’ve been doing throughout the pandemic—and storms before—onsite foodservice operations stepped up. We heard stories of workers spending the night on campus so they could continue to serve their communities.

Growing up in Houston, I felt the firsthand effect of many hurricanes, and I watched from afar as my childhood community was flooded during Hurricane Harvey in 2017. So I was particularly interested in catching up with Houston ISD’s new child nutrition director, Betti Wiggins, who was hit with the super storm shortly after starting at the district. Wiggins, always up for a challenge, said this about Harvey in an interview in 2018: “I think Harvey did a lot to help us to come together as a community to work and see how we could come together to feed children better.”

Knowing that community-service attitude is paramount in so many onsite operators, we checked in on their social media accounts to see how they served their way through the storm. Here’s a look at a few colleges and K-12 school meal programs.

About the Author

Becky Schilling

Group Content Director/Editor-in-chief

Becky Schilling is Food Management’s editor-in-chief, and the group content director for Informa’s Restaurants and Food Group, managing editorial for digital, print and events for Nation’s Restaurant News, Restaurant Hospitality, Food Management and Supermarket News media brands. Becky holds a bachelor's degree in journalism from Texas A&M University and a master's degree from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. Before joining Food Management in 2014, Becky was with FoodService Director magazine for seven years, the last two as editor-in-chief. Becky is a history nerd and a sports fanatic, especially college football—Gig'em Ags—and tennis. A born and raised Texan, Becky currently resides in New York City.

Becky Schilling’s areas of expertise include the onsite foodservice industry (K-12 schools, colleges and universities, healthcare and B&I), foodservice menus, operational best practices and innovation.

Becky Schilling is a frequent speaker at industry events including The Association for Healthcare Foodservice (AHF), The National Association of College & University Food Services (NACUFS) and The Society for Hospitality and Foodservice Management (SHFM).

Becky Schilling’s experience:

Group Content Director, Informa Restaurant & Food Group (Feb. 2020-present)

Editor-in-chief Food Management (Nov. 2014-present)

Director of Content Strategy & Optimization, Informa Restaurant & Food Group (March 2019-Feb. 2020)

Editor-in-chief, Supermarket News (April 2019-March 2019)

Executive Editor, Supermarket News (July 2016-April 2017)

Editor-in-chief, FoodService Director magazine (March 2013-Oct. 2014)

Managing Editor (FoodService Director magazine (March 2012-March 2013)

Associate Editor (FoodService Director magazine (Nov. 2007-March 2012)

Contact Becky Schilling at:

[email protected]

@bschilling_FM

https://www.linkedin.com/in/becky-schilling-39194ba/

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