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CHARLOTTE – In the event of a natural disaster hitting the Tar Heel State, the American Red Cross, Johnson & Wales University, a world-renowned culinary institution and SUBWAY® restaurants of North Carolina are joining forces to provide meals for the victims.
To prepare for an event of such magnitude, JWU students and employees, SUBWAY franchisees, Red Cross staff and other support personnel assembled 500 boxed lunches at the JWU Charlotte Campus culinary labs on Monday.

“Charlotte is an ideal staging area due to its central location and our ability to reach natural disaster victims anywhere in the state within 4-5 hours,” said Pamela Jefsen, Regional Chapter Executive of the Carolina Piedmont Region of the American Red Cross, which encompasses 14 counties in North Carolina. “We’re grateful to JWU and SUBWAY for helping our organization provide basic needs to those who will need it most in times of disaster.”

The meals were prepared from scratch, consisting of 6-inch SUBWAY sandwiches, cookies, bottled water and other items, all of which were donated. In the event of a disaster, these meals will be transported to Red Cross shelters in North Carolina.

The drill was conducted in real-time, from transporting and unloading items at the JWU campus, baking the bread and cookies, preparing and making the sandwiches, assembling 500 boxed meals and finally the reloading of trucks. In under an hour, 500 meals were prepared. The meals were taken to a local men’s shelter.
To put the natural disaster victims’ meal program in motion, the Red Cross estimates a minimum need of 3,000 meals and up to as many meals required to feed victims and first responders.

The worst natural disaster to hit North Carolina in the past 10 years was in 1999 when Hurricane Floyd affected the entire eastern half of the state, putting towns under water. In August 2005, displaced families from Hurricane Katrina were relocated to many cities throughout the state, particularly in Raleigh and Charlotte, where the Red Cross estimates more than 27,000 meals were served over a two-week period. And, when Hurricanes Fran and Ivan hit the Tar Heel state in 2004, the Red Cross served more than 73,000 meals.

“We hope the call from the Red Cross never comes, but if they require our services, we will be there as will our partners in this incredible project,” said Tim Mann, chief operating officer, NC SUBWAY Group, and Melinda Law, JWU Communications and Media Relations Manager.

All food items, meal preparation and assembly, transportation and other support items will be donated by the following: Frito-Lay®, Screiber Foods Inc., a global dairy company, IPC, a SUBWAY franchisee-owned and operated purchasing cooperative, The Coca Cola Company, Select Product Group LP, supplier of paper napkins and other products, French’s® Foods, Kraft Foods, Inc., Otis Spunkmeyer, Inc., and Butterball®. Following the drill, the boxed meals will be delivered to the Uptown Shelter, 1210 N. Tryon St., in Charlotte.