As the cooler weather moves in, the prospect of an evening trek to Late Night or The Whey Station may seem unappealing. But on Oct. 13, the Wesleyan fencing club, known as W’Escrime, made a warm midnight snack far more accessible than anything that requires a walk across the dark, chilly campus.
In an effort to raise money for the club, W’Escrime offered its biannual grilled cheese delivery service from 8:30 p.m. to 1:00 a.m. Members of the fencing club gathered in the Hewitt 8 kitchen, where they prepared, packaged, and began the delivery of the artisanal sandwiches. Patrons were able to choose between two varieties: the $3 classic or the $4 tomato-basil-mozzarella deluxe.
As if the concept of grilled cheese delivery weren’t amazing enough by itself, customers were able to place their orders in a number of different convenient media: text message, email, or by making a pit stop at the Hewitt 8 kitchen themselves.
Throughout the night, Avi Stein ’17 served as the fundraiser’s Grilled Cheese Captain.
“We broke up into stations, from painting butter onto the bread to preparing the sandwiches to grilling them and packaging them,” Stein wrote in an email to The Argus. “From there, we had a constant stream of people running the sandwiches out to our customers.”
And just how did the team members keep all of this cheesy goodness warm en route to their respective destinations? By tightly wrapping these delectable delicacies in aluminum foil and sending out only the fastest and most capable runners, the fencers were able to ensure the timely and efficient arrival of their culinary creations. The fairly central location of the Hewitt 8 kitchen and its ideal setup for grilled cheese making enhanced the productivity of the operation.
Over the course of the five-hour fundraiser, approximately 20 fencers helped assemble and deliver about 200 grilled cheese sandwiches, turning out a net profit of between $500 and $600.
“Sales were excellent this year, breaking our previous expectations and records from last semester,” Stein wrote. “It was a lot of fun, delicious hard work.”
The only thing better than good food is good food with good company. Thienthanh Trinh ’17, a new member of W’Escrime, described her experience working alongside her fellow fencers.
“The highlight of my evening was easily spending time with such an awesome group of people,” Trinh said. “This is my first year on the Wesleyan fencing team, and I found it so easy to just jump in and socialize with everyone.”
Those looking to recreate W’Escrime’s sandwiches may be out of luck and required to improvise. The fencers parried The Argus’ request for their grilled cheese recipes, which remain a guarded secret.