Myles Grossman

Comm331
February 21, 2016
Hillel House at the University of Maryland-College Park
Hillel - The Foundation for Jewish Campus Life will partner with EnvoyNow to deliver
kosher food to students on campus at UMD. EnvoyNow is a new food delivery service on
campus that is run by students, for students. The student delivery drivers can deliver food from a
variety of restaurants to any building on campus including dorms, apartments, or the library. This
partnership between EnvoyNow and Hillel will allow Jewish students on campus with Hillels
kosher meal plan to have their food delivered wherever they are on campus.
Some Conservative and Orthodox Jews only eat food that follows the specific rules of
Judaism, so they cannot eat food at the regular diners or other restaurants on campus. Hillel
offers a kosher meal plan for students who keep kosher. Hundreds of students eat at Hillel on a
daily basis, but Hillels location is problematic. Eric Greif, a student at the University of
Maryland who has Hillels kosher meal plan, says he The trek to Hillel all the way from the
Landmark every night for dinner is the worst. Ive even thought to myself that I wish it could be
delivered. Its clutch that EnvoyNow is going to make that happen.
This partnership between EnvoyNow and Hillel will be incredibly convenient for
students who live on north campus, the Varsity, the Landmark, or Fraternity row, because it
would save them a 15 minute walk each way to the southwest corner of campus.

Hillel House

On campus at Maryland, a $1 million donation from Ben and Esther Rosenbloom in 1998
allowed Hillel to improve the house through extensive renovations. Some of the additions
include a game room, a library, and an upgraded kosher dining hall. The Hillel house, now also
known as the Ben and Esther Rosenbloom Center for Jewish Life, is located at 7612 Mowatt
Lane, adjacent to Van Munching.
Hillel is an international organization, and according to their website their mission is to
enrich the lives of Jewish students. They host services and dinner for the high holidays, social
events such as the Hillel Basketball Tournament, Challah for Hunger, Cake Wars, and a Shark
Tank competition.
EnvoyNow reached out to Hillel with the hopes they could team up to help deliver kosher
meals directly to students. When asked, Max Coonin, the Growth Marketing Manager of
EnvoyNow stated, I think we could team up and create a mutually beneficial relationship. They
want to make the students lives easier, and we can help make that happen.
Max Coonin and Parker Yablon are the students in charge of EnvoyNow on campus at
UMD. Last week, they met with Alison Buchman, the director of operations of the Maryland
Hillel, to discuss a potential partnership. Alison said, We understand that for many students its
inconvenient for them to come to Hillel, so were working with EnvoyNow to fix that.
There is certainly demand for delivering food on campus, which can be shown by
EnvoyNows success. They currently deliver almost 150 orders a week from restaurants such as
Chipotle, Sweetgreen, Blaze and six others, which suggests students with the Hillel kosher meal
will likely utilize this helpful new option.

References
Libit, Howard (2001, Oct 14). Benjamin

 Rosenbloom, 96, Aided Jewish Organizations. Retrieved

from http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2001-10-14/news/0110140028_1_rosenbloomhillel-jewish-organizations
Maryland Hillel Organization. Retrieved from http://www.marylandhillel.org/
Rubin, Jeff (2002). History of Hillel. Retrieved from http://www.hillel.org/
Terpnav Pedestrian Nap. Retrieved from https://terpnav.umd.edu/

Cover Sheet
The Focus
Initial focus sentence: Hillel - The Foundation for Jewish Campus Life is discussing the
possibility of partnering with EnvoyNow to deliver kosher food to students on campus at UMD.

Final focus sentence: If EnvoyNow is able to expand their service to delivering the Hillel meal
plan it would be a game changer for many students.
What is the news angle? Why would a reader care (audience is UMD prospective and current
students and alumni, etc.)?
EnvoyNow, a new delivery service on campus is going to begin delivering the Hillel kosher meal
plan to students anywhere on campus. A common complaint about Hillels meal plan is that it is
out of the way for many students, so it will be incredibly convenient for hundreds of students that
will have a delivery option.
What are your recommended audio, visual and interactive elements to accompany your story?
An interactive map of campus to display how far Hillel is from many parts of campus. It will
also emphasize how far of a walk it can be for students from certain locations on campus.
The Research
Where did you start your research?
I went to the website for Hillel specifically at Maryland to learn about their meal plan. I also
researched EnvoyNow and sought out information about the agreement.
What background research helped you prepare to dig deeper?
Learning about EnvoyNow helped me prepare to dig deeper about how it would work
specifically with delivering Hillel, and how that would differ from the traditional restaurants that
they deliver.
Who did you interview?
An EnvoyNow employee, someone who works at Hillel, and a student with the kosher meal plan
that is impacted by EnvoyNow delivering food.
What sources gave you the best ideas and/or information?
Talking to a student that will be impacted helped me understand the significance, and helped me
convey it more effectively in the article.
What connection is there to activities in the building and its name?

The word Hillel is a Hebrew word that means praise. This connects with the activities that
take place in Hillel such as Jewish services, teaching about Judaism, and encouraging students to
follow Jewish principles.