Bonchek Community Outreach Dinner

A Biannual Bonchek College House Tradition

Born out of a student-driven initiative to utilize unused meals, the Community Outreach Dinner has become a biannual Bonchek College House tradition. Bonchek students donate excess meals from their meal plan and then team up with Sodexho's Catering Services to provide a classy, family-style meal for hundreds of Lancaster residents in need. With funding from Bonchek College House Congress, the event provides transportation for the guests and a fun, inviting environment in which to enjoy a great meal. The dinner not only provides Bonchek students with the opportunity to use their meals to give back to the Lancaster community, but it also presents a unique chance for the students to interact with Lancaster residents by serving them, chatting with them, and playing with their children. The Chessman, Franklin & Marshall's only all-male a cappella group, has often volunteered to provide lively entertainment.

The event began when freshman roommates, Rob Fleisher '09 and Ian Lubetkin '09 realized how many student meals go unused at the end of each semester; they teamed up to organize the first dinner in December 2005. The first dinner successfully served eighty Lancaster residents with about 20 students helping to serve. Each semester since then, more and more Bonchek students have become involved in the dinner. In the fall of 2008, Rob and Ian showed the ins and outs of organizing the dinner to Laura Schimberg '10, Grace Gallagher '10, and Erik Kelly '10 as a way to pass on the tradition to further Bonchek generations. Today, a new group of organizers, including Molly Gordon '11, Alanna Skydell '11, and Adrianna Lara ‘11are in charge of organizing the dinner.

All in all, the Community Outreach Dinner serves as a bridge, bringing together Bonchek students and the Lancaster community in a meaningful and fun way. Bonchek House is the only House that puts on such an event, giving Bonchek students the reputation of being actively engaged in the community around them. This is one tradition that will always be uniquely "Bonchek."

-- written by Grace Gallagher, class of 2010.