The Bennion Community Service Center will make 200 pies this Saturday for the Utah Food Bank. The pies will be given to AIDS victims and their families on Thanksgiving.
But who will bake them?
The only facility on campus that is large enough to accommodate 200 pies is the food lab in the HPER Building.
The building has graciously allowed the Bennion Center to use the lab in year’s past, but not this year.
Apparently a door was left open last year and material was stolen. While there weren’t any formal charges pressed, the connection between the pie makers, open door and stolen goods is questionable.
Anybody can understand the building’s management taking extreme measures to protect security. If you let a friend use your kitchen while you were away and stuff was stolen, you might think twice about doing it again.
But the punishment is too harsh.
The unlocked door was a tragic accident, but that’s no reason to punish the pie makers.
Then again, the real people being punished are the AIDS victims’ families who are being denied pies.
Where else can the Bennion Center bake these pies?
The holidays are a time for charitable works. The pie makers are only trying to perform a service for other people.
What excuse is good enough to deny a large kitchen to a large group of people who are trying to feed the needy?
The bottom line is HPER and the Bennion Center need to find a way to make this work.
The university’s facilities are for the use of students. Students want to use the facilities to help others. If a security guard needs to be hired or special release forms need to be signed, so be it.