Student governments bringing food trucks to campus

Imagine coming out of the Gottwald Center for the Sciences after a long morning of studying for finals and heading to Heilman Dining Center for your standard exam snack of cold cereal--instead, when you step out of the building you are greeted by the smell of hamburgers, meatballs and empanadas.

Richmond College Student Government Association and Westhampton College Government Association are working to make that scene a reality. RCSGA and WCGA are in the process of organizing an event called Food Trucking Through Finals, which will be held 12 to 3 p.m. on Dec. 8 in the University Forum.

Soul Ice, Carytown Burgers & Fries and Monique's Crepes have already been approved by the school to be vendors at the event. Happy Empanada and The Meatball Company have not been approved yet, but are other potential vendors. Once the companies have been approved, the student body will have the opportunity to vote on four vendors and the top three or four will be brought to campus for the event.

Grant Cohen, a RCSGA senator, said the voting process was important because RCSGA and WCGA wanted students to feel involved.

"It's nice to see this whole thing come to fruition, because it's something the student body has wanted for a while," Cohen said.

The event was originally part of WCGA's plan for the year, but senior Mimi Mudd, WCGA president, shared the idea with RCSGA.

"This year, one of the biggest things we wanted to work on was doing joint things and having WCGA and RCSGA work together," Mudd said. "I thought this would be a really great opportunity to start that."

Cohen agreed, and said that both organizations were trying to establish a more symbiotic relationship with each other.

"[Mudd] recognized that we could add value to the event," Cohen said.

Patrick Love, RCSGA president, said the event was designed to be a unifying destination that would bring the whole student body together before everyone goes home for winter break.

Cohen said there might also be a DJ or live band to draw students in, as well as a free item for the first 200 or so students. He said he hoped all of the food would hopefully be between $5 and $8.

"The idea is to make it a destination," Cohen said. "It's a stressful time for students, and we want to do whatever we can to just take the load off a little bit. People love food, people love eating, so that's one way we feel we can help."

If the event is a success, RCSGA and WCGA will continue to work together to bring the food trucks back up to three more times throughout the spring semester. Love also said a farmers market had been discussed as a possibility in the spring.

Love said his hope was that this would be a landmark event that would grow into a tradition for RCSGA and WCGA and each semester they would be able to bring new trucks.

Contact reporter Katie Evans at katie.evans@richmond.edu