Silliman dinner raises $4,500 for WTC victims

Stuart "Stu" Comen came to work at the Silliman dining hall Thursday night Sept. 27., eager to please Silliman students with his made-to-order quesadillas, a bi-weekly specialty. When the dining hall is busy, Stu expects to serve about 100 students a night. Stu didn't realize that he'd be serving well over 500 last night, staying late to cap off a 14-hour day.

Comen was easily motivated. His quesadillas saved Silliman's World Trade Center Benefit Dinner, an event so popular that food intended for well over 500 people vanished in under 45 minutes. After the food—donated from restaurants around New Haven—was consumed, Comen stayed on to cook for another hour to keep the dinner running.

In the end, Silliman had raised over $4,500 in an hour and a half. "The line was so long before the dinner even started," Mike Mackenzie, SM '03, said. "It went from the dining hall to the front gate."

The dinner was created by the Silliman Activities Council in response to the request by President Richard Levin, GRD '74, that all residential colleges attempt to raise funds to support groups most directly affected by the World Trade Center attack. All of the proceeds will be added to Yale's contribution, which will be given to the families of firemen and policemen who perished in the crashes, and to owners and workers at restaurants located near the World Trade Center that have lost their business.

Silliman charged $7 per person for the event but stressed that a greater contribution was perfectly appropriate. Many contributed even after the food had run out. Individual contributions often surpassed the requested amount.

Remarkably, Silliman's effort was almost completely without cost. Restaurants around the city donated large servings, often "hotel" size portions serving 100 or more. Amanda Shanor, SM '03, coordinated the participation of 25 restaurants, such as Hot Tomato's, Café Adulis, and Nirvana, to local pizza favorites Naples and Town Pizza. Shaw's supermarket donated plates and plasticware. "I was amazed at how eager all the restaurants were to participate," Mairin Burke, SM '03, said. The Silliman dining hall provided drinks free of charge, with approval from Yale Dining Services. Mike Aaronian, the Silliman dining hall manager, stayed late with Comen to cook food for over 100 more people.

Immediately after the date of the event was confirmed last Fri., Sept. 21, Shanor took a tour of New Haven, visiting restaurants on Whitney Ave., and Wooster, Howe, and Chapel Streets. Soon after, Emily Cardy, SM '04, Ming Thomson, SM '04, and Lauren Keane, SM '03, gave their time, often catching restaurant managers before classes as early as 8 a.m. On the whole, the managers were extremely receptive.

According to Shanor, some were visibly insulted when offered publicity at the event, feeling that their participation was a given. Most often, managers offered a few large plates of their specialty dish; Pad Thai gave eight containers of their namesake cuisine, while Hot Tomato's offered garlic bread. Only three restaurants rejected requests for donations.

The Silliman group told most of the restaurants that food would be picked up around 6 p.m. on Thursday night. The pick-up went smoothly, thanks to participation by members of the Silliman Student Activities Committee (SAC), as well as Silliman Master Judith B. Krauss, Associate Master Ron Krauss, and Building Supervisor Jeanne DeChello, who drove students to the restaurants to pick up food.

At 6:45 p.m., Thompson was worried that no one would show up to the dinner, despite the fact that she and Cardy had spent much of the last few days on publicity. "By 7:15 p.m. though, we totally flipped out," Thompson said. "We had to run back to Town [Pizza] to get some more food."

Vanessa Herrera, SM '03, got to the dinner 20 minutes early, anticipating the long line. "Wherever you were from, you really felt comfortable being there, and it created a sense of unity," she said. "I think that's what the country really needs right now."

Keane agreed. "The dinner put the whole World Trade Center situation in a positive light, and I don't think we've done that lately," she said. "At some point, you need to do something that turns it around for you. People got off the topic of war and just had a good time eating with people they might not have met otherwise." 

Graphic by Silliman SAC, edited by Chip Lockwood.

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