Brooke Skiba
Features Editor
Student respect at Mom’s on weekend nights has been an ongoing issue this semester without resolution. Just before break, the Men of Harambee (MOH) set an example for the student body by volunteering to spend time in the Mom’s workers’ shoes. On Friday, Nov. 22 at 3 a.m., a time when most students are asleep, MOH spent an hour down at Mom’s, helping to clean up after their fellow students.
The clean-up started just before the location’s 3 a.m. closing time. MOH members immediately scattered throughout Mom’s, mopping, scrubbing tables and cleaning the abundant mess of food and drinks left behind by the mass of student patrons from that night. Workers, who were behind the counter until close, looked pleased and expressed excitement that they would be able to get to be out early that night.
MOH made the decision to do a Mom’s Appreciation Clean-Up last spring while they were planning the social club’s yearly events.
“All 11 members of the group are interested in making sure that the events we host … serve a greater purpose,” Antwan Chambers ’14, president of MOH said. “Because we all love Mom’s and understand that the staff works hard for us every night, we wanted to show them our appreciation for the late hours and great service. It’s no surprise that the Mom’s staff often goes unappreciated by students, we wanted to change that! What better way to do that than by getting in there and doing what they do for us every night, just once.”
Mom’s worker Gail Wiebe, who has worked for the College for nine years, greatly appreciated the help, but admitted that it wouldn’t be necessary if all students displayed respect for the dining hall and staff by cleaning up after themselves.
“When they first told me about it I was like, can we have this all the time?” said Wiebe. “But we shouldn’t have to have it all the time.”
“From now on, think about the additional work they have to do when we do not clean up after ourselves,” Chambers added. “They work there to cook and serve food and to maintain order, not to clean up after adults. Until we can all get a grasp on this, we encourage other student groups to clean up Mom’s to show your appreciation and to experience a Friday night on the opposite end.”
Wiebe also encourages all students to “respect your Mom’s.”