For students stressed about finals week, one local venue hopes to help them survive by providing them with a hot breakfast.
The Wesley Center, a United Methodist ministry, has provided free open-to-all breakfasts during finals week for around 20 years. Each breakfast has vegan and vegetarian options.
“Finals week is a stressful time; students don’t have a lot of time to think about what they’re going to put in their bodies, so part of what we can do is nourish people’s bodies to help them get ready for finals,” said Allyn Glenn-Burns, the co-director of development at the Wesley Center. “Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, it’s what gets you started on the right foot, it gets your day going, it gets your brain awake and alert.”
The food ranges from oatmeal and yogurt to pancakes and bacon, most of which was donated by the Wesley Center’s Board of Directors and United Methodist Church members.
“Since we have been here, it has grown every year,” said Cheri Barr, a manager at the Wesley Center. “We serve 75 to maybe 100 a day, depending on the day.”
The breakfast room is set up buffet style, with both tables and chairs and couches for students. Glenn-Burns said many students found out about the event through friends. Food is available for both grab-and-go and sit-down meals.
“A lot of it is word of mouth; we’ve got a core group of students involved in our programing throughout the semester, and a lot of them invite friends,” she said. “There are some finals-week regulars: people that we don’t see the rest of the year but come faithfully every semester for finals week breakfast, and that’s great.”
The center also offers a free vegan and vegetarian dinner along with a casual worship service every Tuesday night.
UI junior Devin Tracey attended the breakfast on Tuesday morning.
“I saw it on Facebook, and they had a lot of options and like a lot of vegan options, so that was exciting. I’m not vegan now, but I’m trying to be more like that,” said. “It’s pretty close to my house, so it was convenient, and I thought it was cute they were having this breakfast. I don’t have any hot food right now.”