Two Students ‘Pass the Pasta’ for Good

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Pass the Pasta is a business started by current Bob Jones University students. The business plan started with COVID-19 and being sent home from school. A pandemic and an economic recession are not the ideal place and time for a new business. However, the need for homemade meals is an untouched, or increased, demand.

I, Carson Aaron (Class of ’23), and my girlfriend, Mariah Skillman (Class of ’20), found ourselves in the same place of uncertainty as the rest of the BJU family. The plan was to get a summer job and have a normal summer in Northern California; the circumstance demanded creativity instead. The question in our minds was how to help those affected by the pandemic and make money at the same time. Neither of us are medical professionals, and we aren’t elected public officials. But we both like to cook. We began to brainstorm some ideas that would allow us to feed those affected by the coronavirus. The result was “Pass the Pasta.”

The idea is simple. A customer can go to our website and order pasta for their friends and family in need. In turn, we make the meal and deliver it to the door of the pasta recipient. The recipient then has the chance to pass it on. This gives the community a chance to respond to the needs of others without having to venture into the real world. It also gives us the opportunity to serve the community.

The CDC reports that COVID-19 has not been shown to be transferable through food. We engage in precautionary practices of hand washing and social distancing which allow the customer peace of mind that their meal has been prepared and delivered safely.

We have been operational for three weeks, and we have had new orders every week. We’ve taken meals to everyone from young families, to elderly widows, to a mother with ten children looking out the door behind her. Every door we knock on yields a person thankful for friendship and the meal friendship provided. We don’t shake hands, and we don’t go inside. But we are blessed to be able to be the carrier of the blessings for others.

Moving forward, we are going to continue to offer the opportunity to gift a meal to a friend. When the semester is over, we plan to expand our menu and continue the growth of this resource for the community.

We appreciate the prayers of our BJU family, and we are excited to see how God is using a pandemic in all of our lives.

Carson Aaron
Class of ’23

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