How Baylor helped students get their dorm essentials ASAP — for free
When Baylor students left for spring break on March 6, they had no idea that most of them wouldn’t be returning to campus for weeks. But five days later — in reaction to the growing coronavirus pandemic — Baylor announced that spring break would be extended an extra week, followed by what has become an extended period of remote (online) education.
Baylor Campus Living & Learning (CL&L) quickly jumped into action, working with Baylor alumni at two local companies to help students who had left essential items behind in their residence hall rooms get their items — fast, and for free.
Curtis Odle, CL&L’s assistant director for facilities and operations, connected with Campus Crates, a moving and storage company for students founded and managed by Ryan Snitzer, BBA ’18, in partnership with Jordan Gandy, BBA ’05, of The UPS Store.
“Campus Crates (partnered with The UPS Store) has been a proud Baylor-approved vendor for the last three years, serving students for both storage and ship-to-school services,” says Snitzer. “We had been monitoring the evolving situation closely, given the impact to students, and we were happy to help the Baylor Family when Campus Living & Learning reached out to us. I think the biggest thing was just being willing to adapt to lend a helping hand to your neighbor, which is something Baylor and Waco pride themselves on. As Baylor alumni running local Waco-founded businesses, we love giving back to Baylor University and are thankful for students, parents and the university’s ongoing partnership and support.”
Students filled out a request online to schedule a video call meeting with residence hall leaders to locate their belongings. Baylor CL&L staff gathered laptops, chargers, textbook and medication from residence halls. Campus Crates handled moving the boxes of essentials from residence halls to The UPS Store, where the packages were prepped and shipped to the students for free. The three teams worked hard to make sure students were able to get their items fast and free.
“I could not be more proud of our team,” says Gandy. “Everyone remained super flexible with positive attitudes during what felt like chaos at times, while of course trying to maintain strict cleaning regiments and social distancing in the store. It was an incredible team effort across the board. That in itself is special and almost comforting to be a part of during a time when we are asked to separate physically. A thank you to Campus Living & Learning and Curtis for allowing us to serve the students in this way. To me, it says a lot about how Baylor cares for its students by financially footing the bill to get students their items back quickly. I’m proud to be part of this Baylor community.”
The Express Essentials project made it safe and easy for students to get their essentials in time for Baylor’s kick-off of online classes. In a time of uncertainty, the Baylor Family came together to lend a hand to neighbors in need.
Sic ’em, Bears!