Two student organizations at Texas Tech joined the Freezer Friends program to make meals for the Ronald McDonald House in Lubbock.
Students in the Restaurant, Hotel, and Institutional Management (RHIM) Association partnered with Eta Sigma Delta on March 8th, 2022 at Skyviews restaurant to make meals for the Lubbock Ronald McDonald House.
The Ronald McDonald House is an organization dedicated to helping families to stay together, specifically for families who have hospitalized children. It allows families who do not live close to a children's hospital to have a place to stay that feels like home without the families incurring food and hotel expenses. Their program, freezer friends, stores meals in the freezer for families who are staying on-site and need a quick, ready meal when needed.
Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Ronald McDonald house only allowed food donations that were canned goods or nonperishables. Now, community members can donate food that is fresh and homemade. The RHIM Association use knowledge learned in their hospitality and restaurant management courses to make meals for the Ronald McDonald House.
The RHIM Association's goal for this event was to have fun and utilize the students cooking skills learned in their major while making meals to give back and help their community through the Ronald McDonald house. RHIM major and president of the RHIM Association, Madelynn Baker, shared her experience volunteering with the Ronald McDonald House.
“Our goal for the organization was to have fun with our members and utilize the cooking skills learned in our major while making meals to give back to the community for the Ronald McDonald House,” Baker said. “Being an RHIM major definitely helped the event service because we utilize many skills we learn in our major's core classes.”
This past semester the event was held at Skyviews, a restaurant located in the Texas Tech Plaza building and operated by RHIM students. Working at Skyviews allows RHIM students to get true real-world experience by running and working in the restaurant world. Skyviews allows students to gain and develop knowledge and skills while also directly applying what they have learned.
The Restaurant Hotel and Institutional Manangement program allows students to receive approximately 1200 hours of practical workspace experience while also gaining real-world experience by helping the community where they live with the skills they learn in class. There are many unique opportunities for RHIM students in the College of Human Sciences. Students get to have hands-on experience working in the Overton Hotel and in Skyviews, which allows them to interact with real customers in a hospitality setting.