Business students help Our Place

A collaboration between students from the Gustavson School of Business at the University of Victoria and Our Place Society recommends changes to help enhance and improve food service operations. The organization serves 1,200 to 1,500 meals a day.

“Our students found that working with Our Place was both challenging and rewarding. They feel confident the resulting recommendations will help streamline operations, reduce overhead, and allow the society to further extend their reach,” says Heather Ranson, a professor in the service management specialty in the Peter B. Gustavson School of Business.

“The MBA program is built around immersive experiences that help create long-lasting relationships between our students and groups within the community.”

Our Place Society serves Greater Victoria’s most vulnerable including working poor, mentally and physically challenged, those living with addictions, and the homeless. Over the past year, the organization has increased services by more than 30 per cent, resulting in challenges around space, staffing, volunteers and integration of services.

The review and consultation resulted in several recommendations including:
• extend meal service to 90 minutes from the current 60 minutes
• use software to track volunteer hours and reward volunteers individually
• develop a tracking system for food donation
• provide conflict management training for all volunteers

“Not only was this an opportunity for the students to engage first hand with the most vulnerable citizens of Victoria, it was a unique experience for everyone at Our Place Society,” says Le-Ann Dolan, director of operations at Our Place. “It was wonderful to engage with the university and the rewards were more than we were expecting.”

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