Vanderbilt Campus Dining recently launched the Get Well Meals program, allowing sick students to pick up meals for themselves or to send someone to pick up meals for them. Eligible locations include the Munchie Marts at Commons, Kissam, Highland and Branscomb.

The program is available for breakfast, lunch and dinner, and each meal costs a meal swipe. Pick-up is available between 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. CT daily, requiring two hours’ advance notice. 

“We’re hoping to make the recovery process a little simpler for students. Get Well Meals is a way to make sure students who are under the weather can easily access a nourishing meal,” Campus Dining told The Hustler in an email. 

Breakfast meals include two cups of oatmeal, an orange or apple, a That’s It fruit bar and canned water. Lunch and dinner meals include chicken noodle soup, fruit, kettle chips and canned water. A vegan alternative consisting of tomato soup, fruit, kettle chips and Aquafina is also available.

To order Get Well Meals, a student can either text “Vandysick” to 55744 or complete an online form. 

Senior Morgan Butts expressed enthusiasm about the program. 

“I think it’s great! It’s definitely something that, considering the COVID-19 issues that have been going on since I’ve been here, is a great idea,” Butts said. 

According to Butts, accessibility of meals when ill is a major concern that the Get Well Meals program has addressed.

“It’s nice to not have to trudge across campus when you’re not feeling well,” Butts said.

Senior Mert Sekmen expressed concern over how little he has heard about the program, which he thinks could lead to underutilization. 

“I had never heard of it. I definitely think they [Campus Dining] are going to have to do more advertising for it,” Sekmen said. 

Sekmen added that he is willing to try the program in the event that he falls ill.

“If I do get sick, and I’m not really feeling a dining hall, I do think it’s a viable option,” Sekmen said. 

A nearly identical program was introduced in February 2020. The main difference is that students now get two servings of oatmeal and that students can have an unlimited amount of Get Well meals, as opposed to the original limit of five.

The 2020 program was discontinued once the COVID-19 pandemic worsened. While the program was supposed to return in the Fall 2020 semester, it did not, which upset some students like first-year Nicolle Bokiess. Bokiess said she was infected with COVID-19 during the second week of the Fall 2023 semester.

“It’s too little, too late. I had to go to the dining hall and risk spreading diseases to others [to eat],” Bokiess said in an Oct. 9 interview with The Hustler.