BBA class brings Christmas cheer with a big pot of soup for charity

Students from the BBA in Tourism, Hotel Management and Operations chopped veggies for charity to make a mammoth pot of soup full of holiday cheer. For this special event, the Culinary Arts course taught by Mr. Conseiller Culinaire Gottfried Gansterer intersected with Stefan Dressler’s Human Relations and Personal Development course to produce 100 portions of hot vegetable soup that was handed out last Friday at the Metro supermarket in the Vienna district of Simmering. The distribution targeted supermarket shoppers who were asked to donate for the Wiener Tafel, a charity that supports over 18,000 people through 105 social institutions by delivering over three tons daily of consumable, leftover or past-date food. ‘’We collaborate with social partners, and the students support them both to gather new experiences and to return something to society,’’ says Mag. Dressler. ‘’By integrating community services in the curriculum, it is anticipated that four key criteria are addressed: personal and interpersonal development, understanding and applying knowledge learned in class, perspective transformation, and a developed sense of citizenship.’’ BBA Students helped prepare the soup: ‘’It is always a great pleasure to be part of the Culinary Arts class, but today is a very special session, since we are preparing food for charity. At times like these when a large number of people experience hardships it is important to show compassion for the ones in need, and I am glad that we have the opportunity to do so in today’s class. Most importantly, the fact that our charitable activity takes place during the pre-Christmas time gives it more value, since Christmas is a lot about sharing and taking care of people around us.’’