Meal boxes tell stories of Fudaners’ kindness and solidarity
All the campuses of Fudan University have been put under closed-loop management due to the COVID-19 resurgence since one week ago, and university canteens have since then suspended dine-in services and provided only take-away meals.
The university decided to purchase 23,800 meal boxes after counting the number of students and staff in need of reusable meal boxes, since the disposable meal packaging for take-away is not environmentally friendly. Also, campus maintenance staff needs to bear extra workload to ensure the packaging is separated from food waste.
After learning about the need of his alma mater, Chen Xuefeng, founder and CEO of Aihuishou, who graduated with a master’s degree at the School of Computer Sciences, quickly donated 200,000 yuan for purchasing reusable lunch boxes. In addition, Mao Lingyun, a philanthropist, also made generous donations.
As of March 16, a total of 500,000 yuan has been raised.
The acqusition of such a large number of meal boxes in a short time poses another challenge. The university therefore turned to alumni for help. At 1 pm on March 16, it sent out appeals to alumni and university foundations for meal box supplies.
Wang Qiang, general manager at China Development Department of RT-Mart, one of the council members of Fudan Management Award Foundation, immediately set up an ad-hoc team to mobilize meal boxes from RT-Mart’s warehouse and suppliers.
Pan Minghua, MBA alumnus of the School of Management and former deputy Party secretary of Bailian Group, helped mobilize meal boxes from Jiading District of Shanghai and the nearby Zhejiang Province.
At 9pm the same day, all 23,800 lunch boxes were ready to be delivered.
Meanwhile, a group chat joined by staff and volunteers was set up for the delivery, disinfection and distribution of the meal boxes across the campuses.
On the night of March 17, the first batch of 8,000 meal boxes arrived. The next morning, many students are already using them to pack their breakfast.
Shuttle bus route opened for 130 students to buy meals safely
Different from those who live in the main campus dormitory and eastern student dormitory on Handan Campus, students living in Zhengtong Road dormitory, which is also a part of the Handan Campus, have to pass through a bustling area to reach the canteens located at the main campus on Handan Road despite that the accommodation and the east gate of Handan Campus are only 200 meters apart.
Therefore, an ad-hoc shuttle bus route has been set up to avoid the potential virus transmission soon after the announcement of the closed-loop management, providing service for students and teachers living in Zhengtong Road dormitory around meal times.
Happy Meal Express, a meme created by Fudan students
The two vehicles used for this route are disinfected daily. All the passengers from the Zhengtong Road dormitory can board the vehicle between 7:00-8:00, 11:30-13:00 and 17:00-18:40 every day. All the passengers are required to keep their masks on.
A WeChat group has also been started among the volunteers and passengers to arrange the shuttle bus service. The number of passengers and the departure/arrival time are reported in real time to make sure that all students have packed their meals and returned to the accommodation before volunteers buy meals at the canteen themselves.
It’s said that there are altogether some 40 service vehicles traveling around Handan Campus, Fenglin Campus, Jiangwan Campus and Zhangjiang Campus from 3:00 to 23:30, carrying students and staff between the campuses and their accommodation and transporting daily supplies and nucleic acid test samples.
Presented by Fudan University Media Center
