Cafeteria staff still hard at work to keep kids healthy this summer
On a busy morning in the kitchen at Wilshire Elementary School, the NEISD School Nutrition Services crew preps for another day of curbside meals.
The team of six wears not only face masks, but also cowboy hats to participate in the week’s western theme as they package hundreds of to-go bags.
The bags are filled with items like apples, cereal bars and fresh sandwiches.
“We work really hard to get it done,” Lisa Hernandez, a NEISD food service assistant at Wilshire said.
Hernandez is one of the many cafeteria staff members who has worked since day one to ensure kids stay fed during school closures and now into the summer.
“I work with a lot of hard-working ladies. I enjoy working with them and they work really hard. We all work hard to make sure that we have everything done for our North East children,” she explained.
She said making sure kids have a healthy meal they can depend on is important to her and she’s proud to be part of that.
“It makes me emotional because I’m a grandma of thirteen, so it makes me happy to know North East is feeding children in the community,” Hernandez added.
The meal packs are available on Mondays and Wednesdays from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m., with new items occasionally added when available.
For example, 25-pound bags of produce and boxes of frozen chicken were donated from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) as part of the Farmers to Families Food Box Program.
“A lot of people love that we are giving a little extra like the fruit, vegetables, chicken boxes that we’ve been giving, it helps them a lot. We’ve been getting thank you’s from families and saying that’s helping them a lot,” Hernandez said.
With more than two million meals and counting distributed to families since the start of COVID-19, the cafeteria staff at all of the campus meal-sites will continue to do their part to bring a little extra joy to their community.
“To see the kids smile, and to say hello. I get emotional just to see these little smiles every day that they are receiving a meal. It makes us happy.”
For more information on the NEISD summer meals program, click here: https://www.neisd.net/Page/3348.
Because #NEISDcares!
