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A temporary dining hall has been set up in the gymnasium of Erie Hall on the Penn State Behrend campus. Food will be prepared in trailers and wheeled down a ramp to Erie Hall, which replaces Dobbins Hall which burned and will be rebuilt by this fall. ROB ENGELHARDT/ERIE TIMES-NEWS

School rents trailers to feed need after fire

By Valerie Myers, Erie Times-News - 3/13/2010

Penn State Behrend's Randy Geering picked up the phone and ordered a kitchen as easily as he would order a pizza.

"I never knew you could call up and say, 'Can I get a kitchen,' and someone would say, 'Yep. We'll bring it right over,'" said Geering, director of college housing and food services.

"But we signed the contract on Friday (March 5) late in the day, and trucks with tandem drivers were rolling from Arizona with our kitchen the next day."

Kitchen Corps Inc. set up the modular kitchen outside of Erie Hall this week during the college's spring break. Behrend food services staff will prepare the first meal in the modular kitchen -- brunch -- on Sunday, and then serve it in Erie Hall.

School officials wouldn't say how much the kitchen cost to rent.

Erie Hall gymnasium will serve as a dining hall through the spring semester. The college's main dining hall, Dobbins Dining Hall and its Gazebo seating area, were heavily damaged by fire March 1.

"It's been amazing to see things happen this fast," Geering said. "We've worked to get as many pieces into place as we can so we have some play time before students return from spring break. We want to come in, do some production and work out anything that's not quite right."

Geering and university administrators began working out how and where to feed students while Dobbins Dining Hall and Gazebo burned.

"We stood watching it burn, then we all sat down in the Lawrence Hall lobby and made a plan to feed kids at 7 a.m. the next morning," Geering said.

For the four days between the fire and spring break, meals were prepared in Bruno's Cafe in the Reed Union Building and served in the nearby McGarvey Commons.

The new modular kitchen will be operational when classes resume Monday. The kitchen is composed of five trailers set up side by side and includes its own freezer and cooler, dry storage and dishwashing areas, and electric, exhaust and HVAC systems.

College staff and contractors built a platform for the kitchen and a deck and walkways from the kitchen to Erie Hall.

Inside Erie Hall, tables and chairs are set up for about 400 people. The temporary dining hall will offer a deli work station, salad bar and stations for hot entrees and vegetables, desserts and beverages.

A music system and large-screen cable television have been installed for students to enjoy while they eat, and new paint and plants provide basic decorations.

"We'll work with students and maybe have a poster contest for them to help decorate the dining area and make it theirs. It's who we're here for; we're here for the students," Geering said.

Insurance will pay the undisclosed cost to rent the modular kitchen through May 8, college spokeswoman Suzanne Scarpino said.

The Erie County Health Department was expected to inspect the modular kitchen Friday. Behrend food services staff planned to prepare food there beginning today.

Intramural sports and a faculty and staff yoga class previously held at Erie Hall have been moved to the Junker Center. Offices and other facilities remain open downstairs.

Geering credits college food services and maintenance staffs, contractors, utility crews, Kitchen Corps and others -- including food services staff from University Park and other Pennsylvania State University campuses -- with working almost from sunup to sunset daily to prepare the temporary kitchen and dining hall.

"It's taken a village, or a campus, or a university, I guess, to get this done," Geering said.

VALERIE MYERS can be reached at 878-1913.

Original article here.

About Kitchen Corps, Inc.

Kitchen Corps is a Small Disabled Veteran-Owned Business. Its mobile fleet delivers a wide range of customizable temporary kitchen facilities, including but not limited to commercial production, preparation, dishwashing, dry storage, and refrigeration/freezer areas that can be provided anywhere in the United States. Kitchen Corps' temporary facilities can be customized to meet any unique project and challenge in professionally customized semi-trailer units and modular buildings. Other facilities provided by Kitchen Corps include dining, restroom and sanitation, bunk houses, and many other food service related facilities.