Taking care of each other on campus

Cadet activities team brings “meals on wheels” to quarantined cadets

On this day there are seven lunch boxes being picked up by Mrs. Shelton Milner…meaning there are seven cadets in quarantine on campus because of COVID-19.

Milner picks them up and packs them up, then drives around campus to deliver the meals to the doorsteps of the houses where the cadets are staying.

Cadet activities team in a golf cart delivering meals on campus.

Today it’s ham, green beans, rice and cake.

Lunch box with ham and green beans for cadets

Milner and her colleagues follow a specific process with each drop.

“I knock on the door, set down the food, then the drinks and step away,” she says. “Then we chat from a distance. I know they’re a little bored being separated from the Corps so I like to make sure they are doing okay and have someone to talk to.”

Milner, the events and cadet activities manager for The Citadel, doesn’t have a lot of events to manage during this unusual, socially distanced fall semester, so she and the Office of Cadet Activities team personally make sure the cadets get their meals on time.

Shelton Milner of The Citadel cadet activities team visits with cadets in quarantine

“They’re my kids – really all cadets are my kids,” Milner says while on the run making deliveries. She’s worked in the Office of Cadet Activities for 20 years and she says it’s the only job, and the best job, she’s ever had.

“They keep me young. They make me happy.”

The cadets she visits from a distance seem to feel the same about her.

“This means the world to us,” said one of the cadets answering the door in a mask to retrieve the meal. “It’s great when Mrs. Milner visits even if it’s just to hear her shout ‘how’s it going in there y’all’ from a distance. She’s the best. And she reminds us we’ll be back in the barracks soon.”