The week before the start of the 2022-23 school year, Food Connects hosted a Celebration of Farm to School for school administrative teams and food service directors. We are so proud of the work being done by Farm to School teams at our member schools in Windham Central Supervisory Union, Windham Northeast Supervisory Union, and Windham Southeast School District, and we are grateful to the leaders who help make the work possible. At the event, we shared highlights from the 2021-22 school year at each member school, and we want to take a moment to share those highlights with a wider audience. Read on to hear the wonderful things happening in schools throughout the region!
Who Feeds Our Kids: Steve Hed
Welcome to Food Connects’ series highlighting the amazing essential workers in our community who work hard every day to keep our children fed. Read on to learn more!
Steve Hed
“Food service should be such a huge part of the curriculum because teaching kids, particularly at a young age, how to eat right now, just like learning ABCs, can impact them positively or negatively throughout their whole life.”
Steve Hed has been working at Putney Central School for more than five years. He began in a part-time position as the school’s sustainability coordinator. He stepped into the additional role of Food Service Director when the school meal program went independent several years ago. We sat down with him last spring to discuss the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on his work and the school community during the school closure.
Sheila Humphreys (SH-FC): How has your work changed since school closures and COVID-19?
Steve Hed (SH): In one sense, not all that much. My day has been rearranged in terms of how things happen, but I still do a lot of the same things. I used to come in at 6:00 AM to get breakfast started, but now we're doing both meals together, so I come in around 7:00 AM. My day is very full because we used to get breakfast done first, then get lunch ready by 11:30 for the first lunch and 12:15 for the second lunch. Now we have to get both meals ready by 11:30 when the buses leave, so the morning is a real crunch. A lot of our food is scratch-cooked. There are certain things that you don't want to make days ahead, while some things do work better days ahead, like chili. Today we’re serving a turkey, lettuce, and tomato sandwich, and we want that to be fresh. It’s very time-consuming to assemble 125 sandwiches! The whole meal preparation system has changed. It's gotten crunched into a shorter period of time in the morning.
One thing that's a little bit easier is that we have a really extensive salad bar during the school year, but now we don't have the salad bar. That's one big piece of food prep that’s been taken out, which is definitely helpful. There are also a few other items that just don't travel well, so the diversity of what we serve has diminished. We've really tried to come up with interesting lunches so that the kids aren’t just getting hamburgers and hot dogs every day or something like that. We don't do pizza anymore, which is really different. That was our big day! If you want pizza to travel well, you need to make it the day before and then chill it and send it chilled. All of our pizzas are homemade. We make the dough and the sauces ourselves. We were thinking of doing pizza, but shortly after COVID-19 started, you couldn't get flour and yeast. Yeast is still almost impossible to find right now, and we haven’t been able to get whole wheat flour for quite a while. So that kind of threw pizza out the window for us. We could have bought frozen pizza dough, but we just don't like it. So we've decided to take pizza off. We're trying new things instead, like a gluten-free, vegan quinoa salad now with garbanzo beans for protein, and all kinds of veggies. It's something new, and it seems to be a real hit. We're also doing a Peruvian recipe for black bean and rice burritos which is also a big hit. We're trying some new things that are really filling and also travel well.
As far as paperwork, In one sense, the paperwork has gotten easier. I don't have to deal with a lot of the daily point of sale details, but we have other meal count sheets that we have to do. I'm constantly having to keep up with waivers and changes from the state. It's hard to know, on a day-to-day basis, whether you're doing things according to the code.
Another thing that’s been added to my job is managing the delivery system because we're delivering to houses and neighborhoods. I've got a whole database of families and addresses, and I’m trying to constantly keep in contact to find out what people need, food allergies, etc. Keeping track of all that is a whole new aspect to my job, but the system is working, and the more organized we are with it all, the better things work. One hard part has been trying to figure out how to get everything really organized so that it moves like clockwork. Finally, I think I'm getting there!
SH-FC: What's been keeping you going during these times?
SH: During the first couple of weeks, when our small kitchen staff was doing it all, we were thinking, “there's no way we can keep this going.” We are a pretty small group, and, all of a sudden, we had to send the meals out by bus, and we had no packaging materials. I spent thousands of dollars buying packaging materials and trying to figure out what works and what doesn't. I had that whole headache in the beginning of trying to figure out everything.
Once we realized there was just no way that we could do it by ourselves, things changed. Some of the paraeducators started calling and saying, “Hey, we want to help out.” Once we figured out how to add their support, that helped immensely. Before, we were kind of insular. We weren’t seeing any of the kids—we were just sending food on the bus. We enjoy the cooking part of our jobs, but the biggest thing that we like is serving the kids. It's fun to see them take the food, and with our salad bar, they're always excited and trying new things. It's the relationship between the food and the kids that keeps you going during the school year, even though, of course, it’s frustrating sometimes.
The first thing that happened with the paras helping us out is that it added a whole new dimension. You can hear them in there now talking to each other while they work, and it just kind of takes your mind off of things.
What started happening next is that we started getting emails from some of the families and cards from the kids, and they were SO appreciative. Once we started having that connection again we realized our purpose, that we do have a purpose and that what we’ve been doing is appreciated and people need it.
In some of the staff meetings that we do on Zoom, people would ask us, “How's it going?” In the beginning, we would say,” I think we're doing okay.” And then some of the teachers would chime in and say, “Hey, sometimes when we're in the middle of the zoom lesson, the kids will say, ‘Oh, I gotta go, my food is here.’” And they told us that it’s the highlight of the kids’ day when they get their bag of food, and they want to know, “what's in my bag?” and there’s this excitement about everything. A lot of parents then have told us that the meal delivery is the one truly structured part of their day. Every day they know this is going to happen, the kids are waiting for it, and they can plan around it. It’s the community that has been keeping me going once I realized that these meals are as important as they are. It was hard to know that in the beginning because we weren’t seeing the kids. I've ridden the bus several times just to see, and that helps me, particularly when I can see and wave to the kids.
SH-FC: What has been your biggest challenge during this time?
SH: My biggest challenge has been wrapping my head around it all. There's so much going on, so many little details—from getting everything organized on a daily basis to figuring out what to order to doing constant inventorying to figuring out what we have, especially with the packaging. On top of that, the availability of food and supplies changes almost daily. One day you can get something but the next day, you can't. So I create a menu, and then I find out there's no more ham available anymore. And so I have to change up on the fly. So it's a challenge wrapping my head around the whole structure of how to run the meal program with so many unknowns. During a regular school year, everything is planned out. Adapting to changes on a constant basis is probably my biggest challenge.
SH-FC: How can the community support you and other food service workers during this time?
SH: They already are! We've got a whole list of volunteers, and we haven't had to dig that deep into it yet because we have this group of volunteers right now who are so dedicated to it. Extremely dedicated. Frankly, we could not do it without these volunteers. We'd be going crazy by now without them! Just knowing that they're all here, and every once in a while, they say, “Hey, do you need more help?” We know they're always willing to help.
And this community has also supported us. We came in one day, and there were signs all over the school saying, “Thanks for feeding our kids!” You could tell a lot of the kids had made signs, and the place was plastered with signs. And in one of the emails that I sent out to the families, I said I wanted to really thank all the people that are involved in getting the meals out, and soon after, one little first grader with her family snuck in and delivered goodie bags to all of us! They were really cute bags. We all got a barbeque mitt and tongs and spatulas and ketchup and mustard. It was awesome and just out of the blue! It's all the little things that this community is constantly doing that really help. I have been really impressed with this town and how everyone has pulled together. And we had a huge parade of all the school staff. There were 50 cars, and we drove the bus routes, and all the people were out waving, and the kids were out and they had signs. We did it to cheer them on, and they ended up cheering us on too! It was really impressive. It took about three hours to drive all around town. It was nice—we got to see the whole town and where the kids live. It shrunk the community size in the sense that we suddenly became aware of where everybody lives. A lot of the teachers who don't live in Putney, or even some of the ones that do, have never been in some of these neighborhoods. We really got to know our town. That’s one of the things that has happened is that we've grown closer as a community and gotten to know each other more. I know a lot more people that I never knew before, and I know where a lot of people live, which is kind of nice. It gives us some context to the families.
SH-FC: What advice would you give to someone who's interested in a career in school food service?
SH: Be patient. This work involves a lot of patience. I'm not even sure how to explain that, but it does. It’s a good job if you love to cook for people, particularly cooking healthy and interesting things for people.
It’s a creative process, trying to come up with new ideas and getting kids interested in trying new foods. As far as patience goes, you’ve got to love kids. If you don't like kids, there's no sense of being there. What all of us say here is that “We're here to feed kids.” It's not just a job. We're here because we want them to eat well, and whatever we do is keeping that in mind.
It's the same challenge for families. Kids say, “I don't want to eat that spinach!” How can you educate them and help them try things that they ordinarily would never try and get them interested in new things? On top of that, it’s about the health aspect of nutrition, why it's important, and how it can help the kids, whether it's intellectually, emotionally, etc. For example, just about everyone, including myself, loves sugar and fatty foods. It’s important to teach kids how to control that and realize that sometimes it's inappropriate to eat those foods, and we've got to look at the bigger picture.
Through the food service and through gardening and health classes, different teachers reiterate these things in different ways. Food service should be such a huge part of the curriculum because teaching kids, particularly at a young age, how to eat right now, just like learning ABCs, can impact them positively or negatively throughout their whole life. This goes beyond what we can do here, in elementary school, but it can be built on in middle school or high school with other educational curricula, the concept that what you do now can affect even your economic situation and your health later on.
As far as going into working in food service, you’ve got to come into it with a holistic approach. If you're just there for a job and you want to punch in and punch out, then it's probably not the best career for you, but if you really care about the kids, and you really want to interact with them, it’s great. We get to know every single kid in the school!
SH-FC: What brings you joy?
SH: Having my hands in the dirt! My biggest joy is growing food and teaching kids about it. That's really what I enjoy. I love teaching, and my garden is my classroom. You can do so much there! Watching kids become so empowered by growing, harvesting, bringing to the kitchen and eating what they've grown, and talking about it with their friends is very inspiring. That is the epitome of what the food service should be as part of a school if it's possible. I know not everyone has the luxury that we have, with all this space for gardens, but if this can be done on some level at many, many schools, I think that's where you're going to start seeing real change. My joy would be seeing kids grow through being empowered to take control of a lot of the things that they do at school. Kids are the best teachers for each other. If one kid learns something really well, they're the ones that are really going to get others excited about it. Kids love learning! My definition of a successful education has nothing to do with testing. Successful education is purely teaching children to love to learn. If you crack that code, if kids can learn to love to learn, then they're going to learn by themselves,
SH-FC: One last question, what's something that you're grateful for?
SH: I’m grateful for the people I work with. In spite of everything going on, this has been one of the most heartwarming experiences, just to see how everyone is coming together. It's amazing.
SH-FC: Any last words?
SH: I hoped this whole thing would be over by now, but it's not going to be. I'll have some time over the summer to come up with ideas of how we're gonna move on from here. It's weird. The reason people work in the schools is to work with kids. To not see them in person is really bizarre, so I’ll keep coming up with innovative ways to improve the experience.
Who Feeds Our Kids: A Year of Reflection
As we reflect on the anniversary of the statewide school closures that resulted in overnight changes for families and school staff, Food Connects celebrates School Nutrition Professionals. These school lunch heroes stepped up every day to ensure our community remained fed. What a challenging year this has been for everyone working in school kitchens!
Last spring, while teachers, students, and families were making the difficult shift to remote learning, School Nutrition Professionals continued to work in person in school kitchens, making thousands of meals for youth in our community. They faced the anxiety of working in person while so many others were sheltering at home, the fear that they or their loved ones might be infected, or that they would spread the virus in their workplace. Steve Napoli is the head custodian at Putney Central School and was part of the core team working in the kitchen to get meals out in those early days. Napoli commented that it felt “eerie” at the start, but knowing they had to get meals out to take care of the community was essential.
Food Connects conducted a series of interviews last spring with School Nutrition Professionals and other school staff working in kitchens in Windham County schools. We wanted to learn more about the effects of the pandemic on their work and how they were coping with challenges such as consolidating efforts into centralized kitchens, making the switch to unitized meals, managing childcare as working parents, and keeping spirits up during challenging times. Their responses inspired us.
Many changes needed to happen quickly when school kitchens made the switch to delivering meals remotely. According to Steve Hed, Food Service Director at Putney Central School, “The whole meal preparation system changed. It got crunched into a shorter period of time.” Along with the crunch of preparing meals in time to be delivered to families by bus, the packaging requirements shifted as well. Ariane Lavoie, also of Putney Central School, said it best: “Less kids, more packaging!”
Schools with salad bars like Putney Central and Central Elementary School in Bellows Falls noticed a difference. Erica Frank, Site Manager at Central School, said, “We got a salad bar going in 2019, and it really took off. We had so many options, and it was so fun. It helped the kids try new things, and we don’t have that this year.” On the other hand, eliminating the salad bar simplified food prep, which helped free up kitchen staff to meet additional individual packaging requirements.
The challenge of finding foods that could be pre-packaged easily and travel well allowed schools to try out new recipes. Steve Hed reported that they’re trying new things in the kitchen, “like a gluten-free, vegan quinoa salad with garbanzo beans for protein, and all kinds of veggies.” They also added a Peruvian recipe for black bean and rice burritos, both of which have been “a big hit.”
With the switch to Universal Meals for all students, Food Service Directors’ paperwork has decreased. However, last spring, developing the meal delivery system added a brand new challenge to the job, including mapping out routes to efficiently deliver food to families throughout the school district.
When asked what kept them going, School Nutrition Professionals spoke passionately about community food security needs and the importance of feeding their students. The physical act of going to work helped keep their spirits up as well. “It keeps me going to have something to do every day when I wake up in the morning, someplace to go,” said Linda Griffin, who works in all 3 Brattleboro elementary schools. “I’m not the kind of person who can sit around doing nothing. Having this job has definitely saved me from going stir crazy.”
Thinking about their biggest challenges, most spoke about missing the students. Academy School’s lead cook, Jasmine Star Nightingale, summed it up perfectly, with tears in her eyes, saying, “My biggest challenge is not seeing the children. It is very painful. They're all just wonderful kids, and just seeing them smiling every day...I miss that!”
Many changes happened quickly, and it was a challenge to adjust. Lori Reynolds normally works at Dummerston School, serving meals to 80-100 students each day. When schools closed, Reynolds started reporting to work daily in the centralized kitchen at Academy School, where meals were being prepared and packaged for multiple schools in WSESD. She was in charge of the alternative meals—approximately 28 daily orders for gluten-free, dairy-free, vegetarian, and/or vegan meals. “I'm learning new things, which is a little bit challenging for me, but I’m doing it!” said Reynolds. She paid acute attention to detail to fulfill these orders, which she said “got my brain going very quickly” first thing in the morning.
Another challenge for School Nutrition Professionals with children was managing childcare and supporting remote learning while working in the kitchen during the day. Jill Harnish from Oak Grove School described the challenges faced by many working parents, saying, “It’s hard because my youngest is a senior this year, and he’s in special education. He’s got homework to do, so when I leave work, I have to go home and help him with his homework because he won’t do it when I’m not there.”
Community support helped keep everyone going, both in the form of additional school staff and community volunteers coming in to help the kitchens and in community expressions of gratitude for the invaluable work of School Nutrition Professionals. Nancy Gagnon is the office clerk at Putney Central School. When schools closed, she began working in the kitchen regularly, helping prep food and pack meals. When asked about community support, she responded by saying, “One of the biggest things the community is doing is showing appreciation for the effort that this whole team of people have provided. We've been getting some feedback from families...it buoys you and makes you really feel like your efforts are being appreciated. There’s a back and forth, connecting with families and knowing that they're happy with the food they're getting, and you feel happy that you're doing it.”
Many people mentioned the satisfaction they get from knowing that they are feeding children who need it, and they are proud of the quality of the food they make. Mary Beth Peterson is a kindergarten paraeducator at Putney Central School, and she helped out regularly in the school kitchen during the spring when her students were fully remote. Working in the school kitchen gave her a new perspective, and she proudly stated, “The quality of the food and the personalization that our food service staff put into what they do is phenomenal. The quality of the food is WOW; I can't believe it! The diversity and the kid-friendly food, it's quality stuff.” Thristan Coke from Bellows Falls Union High School said, “I am a firm believer that kids must be fed, no matter what. What’s going on is not their fault, and they shouldn't be punished for anything. So I take pride in that...I know what my kid is like when he’s hungry; I can’t imagine anybody else’s, so I am happy to feed them.”
We also asked what brought these folks joy in their lives and what they were grateful for. Jess Boucher of Dummerston School shared that some of her joy comes from “seeing smiling kids, happy kids, and when the kids tell me they like the food and how good of a job I’m doing.” On the topic of gratitude, people were universally grateful for their families, health, and jobs. Erica Frank from Central School spoke specifically about her appreciation for her co-workers, saying, “I’m grateful for the team who comes together at this time to make it work, no drama and just getting the job done. People coming together and bringing lots of different skill sets has been really nice.”
We are grateful for these unsung heroes in our community who nourish children in our community each day. The complete series of interviews can be found here: https://www.foodconnects.org/news-2/tag/Who+Feeds+Our+Kids
Garden Renaissance Day at Putney Central School
The Putney Central School (PCS) community celebrated May Day 2021 with a garden renaissance work party. School staff, students, and their families turned out on a chilly, sunny morning to prepare the garden for the upcoming season. Together they revitalized the six 4 x 12 foot raised beds, which, after nearly a decade of use by classrooms, needed fresh wooden frames and soil amendments. They also planted seven new fruit trees (plum, cherry, apple, and pear) in the school’s large orchard (with another ten apple trees being planted by 4th grade the following week). They celebrated the roughly 11,000 square foot (¼ acre) freshly tilled garden area—a revitalized project for the school that will be a crop-bearing garden growing vegetables to process, freeze, and serve the school meal program.
Principal Herve Pelletier was pleasantly surprised by the strong turnout of school families, eager to gather together in person outside after a long winter to celebrate spring. This work party was an opportunity to breathe new life into the school’s decade-plus old Farm to School program—a central part of the school’s curriculum and culture. “We first started our involvement with Farm to School about ten years ago,” says Herve, “and so to see the energy around this event and the commitment to the work that needs to be done is just great.”
Sustainability Coordinator and Food Service Director Steve Hed is delighted to move forward with the more extensive garden. As a champion of local food and hands-on farm, food, and nutrition education for all students, he dreams of producing more food on campus and increasing student involvement in the garden. A combination of grant funding and local funds made it possible to build a much larger walk-in fridge and freezer for the school, which has made it finally possible to dream big and create a production garden on campus.
Students will help grow, harvest, and prepare fresh produce from the garden, with support from Steve and classroom teachers who will integrate these experiences into the curriculum. Steve and his team will serve these hyper-local foods at school meals so that all students can share in Putney Central School’s harvest. Steve is passionate about teaching students the importance of nutrition and health. He believes that school food service should be a significant part of the curriculum. “Teaching kids, particularly at a young age, how to eat right now, just like learning ABCs, can impact them positively or negatively throughout their whole life,” says Steve.
In addition to the families and staff who turned out on May 1 to build and plant together, several other community partners supported this project, including:
Apple trees from Scott Farm Orchard
Plum, cherry, and pear trees from Mark Mowrey
Tree expertise from PCS parent and Sullivan County (NH) Natural Resources Director Lionel Chute
Raised bed timbers from Carl Mosher
High-quality compost from Bazin Farms
Rototilling the newly revived garden plot by Eric McGowan
Seeds, garden support, and Farm to School coaching and programming from Food Connects
“Honestly, it would be impossible to take on a project of this scale without the support of so many of our parents and community members,” says Herve.
Putney Central School is laying the foundation now for a program that will have a considerable impact on the lives of children in the community for many years to come, and we can’t wait to see the fruits of their harvest over time!
Who Feeds Our Kids: Nancy Gagnon
Welcome to Food Connects’ series highlighting the amazing essential workers in our community who work hard every day to keep our children fed. Read on to learn more!
Nancy Gagnon
“I already had great respect for our kitchen staff and for the quality of meals that they provide for our students. Being in there and watching the day in day out work that they do, my respect and admiration rose greatly.”
Nancy Gagnon is the office clerk at Putney Central School. When schools closed last March, her work changed dramatically, and she played an essential role in helping get food to students during the school closures. At the end of the 2020 school year, we sat down to learn more about her work feeding students in our community.
Sheila Humphreys (SH): How has your work changed due to COVID-19?
Nancy Gagnon (NG): When school closed in March, I was wondering what kind of role I would have, if any, since I work in the office part-time. In conversations with Steve Hed, our Food Service Director, it became apparent that I could get involved by working with our meal program. There was an opportunity for me to come in and do some prep work. The timing was somewhat flexible—I could come in for a few hours in the morning, which was good for my schedule. And I could work fairly independently—getting food ready for the next day or sometimes that day, or putting food in bags and helping get the meals out the door, and also often prepping food for the next day or even the day after. Before the pandemic, I worked in the office, and I was never involved in the kitchen except communication support, which we do in the office with everybody in the building.
SH: That's an interesting perspective. How has your thinking changed now that you're working in the kitchen?
NG: I already had great respect for our kitchen staff and for the quality of meals that they provide for our students. Being in there and watching the day in day out work that they do, my respect and admiration rose greatly. They do a lot of incredible planning. They are always thinking ahead, and they are really engaged with nutrition and figuring out the best ways to provide fresh, nutritious food to our students. It's a whole system of a lot of hard work, and it's been fun to be a little part of that.
SH: What is keeping you going during these unusual times?
NG: I've been really happy to be able to stay connected to school and stay connected to our school community. I'm really grateful for this little job working in the kitchen every day for an hour or two. It’s been really important and positive for me to have a daily routine of coming to school and connecting with a few people that I've worked with all through all year. I’m really happy to have had this opportunity. I really see it as that, an opportunity, and I’m really happy to be part of this getting these meals out to kids and families.
SH: What has been your biggest challenge during this time?
NG: The uncertainty of the future. For example, not having the answers to lots of questions about how life will be in the future. In particular, what will my job be like, in the fall? Will I have a job? And what will it be like, if I do have one?
SH: How can the community support you and other food service workers during this time?
NG: One of the biggest things the community is doing is showing appreciation for the effort that this whole team of people have provided. We've been getting some feedback from families that Steve has shared with us, and it buoys you and makes you really feel like your efforts are being appreciated. There’s a back and forth, connecting with families and knowing that they're happy with the food they're getting, and you feel happy that you're doing it.
SH: What brings you joy?
NG: Being outside brings me joy. In my personal life, I like cooking. I like baking and making bread. I like reading and being with my children.
SH: What are you grateful for?
NG: I'm grateful for my school community. I'm grateful for my family. And I'm grateful for living in Putney and in Vermont.
SH: What advice would you give to someone who is interested in working in school foodservice?
NG: I would have that person ask themselves if they are a really hard worker. Because I think it's hard work. And I think in order to do it and do it well, you need to be a hard worker, and you need to be dedicated.
Who Feeds Our Kids: Mary Beth Peterson
Welcome to Food Connects’ series highlighting the amazing essential workers in our community who work hard every day to keep our children fed. Read on to learn more!
Mary Beth Peterson
“Working with kindergarten children has brought me more joy. I wake up in the morning and think to myself, “I get to go to work today!””
Mary Beth Peterson is a paraeducator in Sarah Cassidy’s kindergarten class at Putney Central School. Last spring during the school closure she became one of several key staff members involved in keeping the meal program going.
Sheila Humphreys (SH): How has your work changed due to COVID-19?
Mary Best Peterson (MP): My work has changed quite a bit, because of the age group that I teach. It's really difficult for parents trying to juggle everything. With parents working and getting their kids to do their packets at home if I was going to try to do something on Zoom it would require parent support and take them away from work, and Sarah, our kindergarten teacher, was already doing that. So I didn't have much opportunity to engage with students other than to be at the Zoom meetings with Sarah and the entire class. I am a person who needs structures and goals and whatnot in my life. Mr. Pelletier, our principal, put out an email to staff asking anybody who had the time to help out our food service folks. I started riding the bus and delivering food to students, and then I saw the need for helping with preparing the food, bagging, and that sort of thing, so I started doing that. This was at the end of March. I've been doing it since then, and it's been very rewarding. The families are extremely grateful, which feels really good.
SH: What has been keeping you going during these unusual times?
MP: A large part of what has been keeping me going is having the opportunity to have Zoom meetings with our kids. That sort of normalizes a little bit of the day and a little bit of time. Seeing their faces and seeing their excitement has been really good. Frankly, helping out in the kitchen and delivering the food has really kept me personally going. I wouldn't have a whole lot of stuff to do if it weren't for that. It's been very rewarding. I'm glad I had this opportunity.
SH: What has been your biggest challenge?
MP: The professional challenge in the beginning of all of this was the feeling of uselessness. I wanted to do whatever I could to support Sarah and the kids. It became very evident early on that that was going to be challenging given the age group of the children. Teachers were trying to figure out, “how do I do this long-distance learning?” I was feeling rather useless, and that is really hard for me. I'm a person who really likes to have a purpose and things to do. I was a registered nurse for 41 years before I started working in the school, so I've still got that “go go go” thing. Like all of us, the adjustment to being at home, the adjustment to having no control, the adjustment to not knowing what really is going to happen in the early stages was hard. And the ongoing uncertainty even now... I'm much more adjusted now, obviously, but the uncertainty about what the fall is going to bring and the uncertainty of what's going to happen to our families being fed over the summer is a huge concern for me. This is a small community and you really get to know pretty much all of the children and families that we're working with. So it’s very distressing not knowing what is going to happen.
SH: How can the community support you and the food service program?
MP: Putney is a very supportive community. People have been supportive. We have a Food for Kids program and the Food for Kids program has been augmenting food for those families who have difficulty filling their pantries. I'm sure that if there is something more that the community can do, if the school was not able to do the food stuff, the community would rise to the occasion because they always do.
SH: What advice would you give to someone who's interested in working in school food service now that you've got a lens on the inner workings of the school kitchen?
MP: If you are interested, I have found it to be very, very rewarding because you are doing something for people that you care about. Food is a really important part of many cultures and an important part of family life in our culture three times a day, and in regular times we are with the kids for breakfast and lunch at school. Depending upon the group of people you're working with it, it could be different, but my situation has been very rewarding. I really have enjoyed working with the people that I'm working with, and that's a real plus.
SH: Has your perspective on food service changed since you've been working in the kitchen?
MP: The quality of the food and the personalization that our food service staff put into what they do is phenomenal. The quality of the food is WOW, I can't believe it! The diversity and the kid-friendly food, it's quality stuff. They're very impressive. The number of meals that they have put out over the last three months is phenomenal.
SH: What brings you joy?
MP: What brings me joy is working with kindergarten kids. As I said, I'm a retired nurse, which I enjoyed. It was very satisfying, and I learned lots of stuff over my 41 years. But I have to say, working with kindergarten children has brought me more joy. I wake up in the morning and think to myself, "I get to go to work today!" They're just so open and they're not wrecked by our society at this point. It's so fulfilling, it's just so wonderful!
SH: What are you grateful for?
MP: I am grateful for the community that I live in. I am grateful for the fact that because I'm semi-retired things have been financially predictable for us. I have an amazing family. I'm very grateful for what I have in my life, not just monetarily but for the people and the relationships, and the community that I live in.
SH: Anything else that you would like to share?
MP: I love the yogurt that we buy from Food Connects, with homemade granola on top of it. The granola is made here at school. I didn't know you could make granola! It's amazing. All the things they make in our kitchen just blow my mind!
Who Feeds Our Kids: Ariane Lavoie
Welcome to Food Connects’ series highlighting the amazing essential workers in our community who work hard every day to keep our children fed. Read on to learn more!
Ariane Lavoie
Ariane Lavoie is a food service professional at Putney Central School, where she has worked for the past three years. We chatted with her in the late spring of 2020 about the pandemic and how it had affected her life and work.
Sheila Humphreys (SH): How has your work changed due to COVID-19?
Ariane Lavoie (AL): Less kids, more packaging! We work less hours because we don't have to clean up after lunch and do all the dishes and stuff like that, but I start work a little earlier. It's a little less hours, but not too different.
SH: What has kept you going during these unusual times?
“We do it so the kids have something to eat. And we all feel an obligation to just do whatever we can to keep the community going.”
AL: I really do it for the kids. We do it so the kids have something to eat. And we all feel an obligation to just do whatever we can to keep the community going.
SH: Do you have children at home?
AL: I do. I have an eight-year-old and an 18-year-old stepdaughter.
SH: How are you managing with child care?
AL: We're lucky because my husband is working from home. He's been doing the morning shift with the kids, and then I come home at lunchtime and I help my daughter with schoolwork.
SH: What has been your biggest challenge during this time?
AL: My biggest challenge is not letting anxiety take over. At work, it seems like we're just making food and everything's okay, it’s normal. But it sort of takes a toll on all of us. Even if we don’t necessarily feel it all the time, you know, like “oh, my gosh, I'm so stressed right now,” but it’s just there all the time. Managing that anxiety is the biggest challenge, but once again, I think we're really lucky to be able to work with other people and see each other at work every day and have this sense of community and be social more than if we were all stuck in our houses working remotely.
SH: How can the community support you and other food service workers during this time?
AL: The community in general recognizes and appreciates what we've been doing, which is amazing. We're in a public school setting where we need to check every penny and try to keep everything cheap. We're doing a good job here making food from scratch, and it's more expensive. If the government could just see that scratch cooking is the right way of doing things that would be helpful.
SH: What advice would you give to someone who is interested in this career?
AL: First, good choice. You're gonna love it! Get ready to be a hard worker, it’s hard work working in any kitchen I think. But it's fun and rewarding and we have great working conditions at this school. If there's a snowstorm, I'm there with my daughter, I don't need to go to work or take the day off or anything like that. So it's a wonderful job. I would encourage anybody to come and work in the kitchen with me!
SH: What brings you joy?
AL: So many things bring me joy. First of all, we live in Vermont, so just look outside and you will find joy. Music brings me joy, flowers and gardening bring me joy, food brings me joy! My dog and my family bring me joy.
SH: What are some things that you are grateful for?
AL: This glorious day that we have today, and my health. I practice gratitude every day, so I could go on for ½ an hour with what I’m grateful for! I’m grateful for these guys that I work with and that we get along and we’re not at each other’s throats since this started. I’m grateful for Vermont because there couldn’t be a better place to live during this crisis. I’m grateful for my house and my family.
SH: Final thoughts?
AH: We’re doing what we’re doing and we’re going to keep doing it!
Coronavirus Relief Funding Helps Schools Pivot
2020 was the year of quick pivots and short deadlines. This was especially true for school nutrition programs that went from self-serve salad bars, to home delivery using district busses, to “unitized” (individual) meals for physically-distanced students in classrooms. This task hasn’t been easy, nor has it been cheap. School nutrition programs have needed new equipment, more storage capacity, and much more packaging.
Most schools in our region have started using Oliver trays (a “fully integrated meal packaging system”) to streamline an otherwise very tedious process. WNESU recently received an automated sealer, further speeding up the process of packaging the hundreds of meals that leave their kitchen daily.
Thanks to the CARES Act funding provided by Congress back in March, funds were made available to states to support the costs associated with making big programmatic changes. Food Connects worked closely with Ali West (Brattleboro Regional Food Service Director, Fresh Picks Cafe) to identify the needs of all the schools in the Windham Southeast School District and apply for the funding.
In the central kitchens at Academy School and Brattleboro Union High School, the school nutrition programs were able to add additional refrigeration capacity. This will give them more flexibility when ordering fresh produce, as well as when making and storing bulk meals. Putney Central School’s nutrition program used the funding to purchase a mini-van to distribute meals. Transportation is another new bottleneck in programs’ operations. Having a dedicated vehicle for delivering meals to distribution sites and for transporting supplies will help ensure meals can get out on time.
In Guilford, new mobile waste sorting stations will make classroom meals a little more manageable while still making it easy for students to recycle and compost their leftovers. They also used some reimbursement funds to help pay for the new outdoor gear that was purchased for students and the materials used in building their outdoor learning structures. Lastly, Academy School is expanding its capacity to cook outdoors with students by installing fire pits around the campus.
Each of these purchases goes a little way in helping schools operate during these difficult times. Here at Food Connects, we’re excited to see the new equipment put to good use in 2021 as we continue to support the evolving needs of schools.
Welcoming Our Summer Garden Coordinator
Food Connects extends a warm welcome to Tara Gordon—our new summer garden program coordinator for five area schools this summer (Academy School, Green Street School, Oak Grove School, Guilford Central School, and Vernon Elementary School). Tara is a mother of two, has a multidisciplinary background in the biological sciences, was the Garden Coordinator for Putney Central School for three years, and is now the Green Street School Garden Coordinator. Tara finds gardening to be a wonderful way to instill a sense of purpose, a practical way to grow awareness of our place in nature, a way to cultivate our curiosity and creativity as caregivers, and a way to develop a closer interrelationship with the natural world. She is looking forward to working in the gardens with students and families over the summer.
Summer garden care is a crucial part of a healthy school garden program. Without someone tending gardens over the summer, gardens get overgrown and underwatered, making the fall harvests smaller and the overall gardening experience less pleasant for students and teachers. This is the third year that Food Connects has offered this valuable service to schools. Some schools have been able to find funds within their existing budgets to “buy-in” to this program, however not all schools have been able to find funds even though they have the need. We are grateful to Rise VT for a grant this season which allows us to expand our program and serve the communities of Guilford and Vernon.