Dan, I hope you don't mind that I'm bragging on what you and the other volunteer chefs did for these students.
Chefs find path to students’ hearts (copied from JCPS Monday Memo)
A group of volunteer chefs arrived early at Rangeland Elementary on Wed., Oct. 13, to prepare a special surprise meal for students as they arrived to school.
Katie Payne, a Sullivan University Culinary Arts instructor, photographs a Rangeland Elementary student as he tries on her chef’s hat.
The surprise -- a far cry from the stereotypical mystery meat of 1960s school cafeterias -- consisted of fresh fruit, scrambled eggs, toast, cereal, and milk, all of which was prepared and served by chefs from Sullivan University’s Culinary Arts Program, J. Gumbo’s, and the Seelbach Hotel.
“The students were quite thrilled and pretty impressed,” says Dan Thomas, JCPS catering supervisor and secretary of the Kentucky chapter of the American Culinary Foundation (ACF). “It was something different from the normal routine. The students asked us if we were also making lunch and if we would be here the next day.”
The event, Hit a Homerun for Nutrition, was a pilot program of the ACF Kentucky chapter. In addition to Rangeland, the group visited Wellington Elementary on Mon., Oct. 11. Both schools offer the district’s Health and Fitness for Accelerated Learning Magnet Program.
The chefs served more than 400 breakfasts and raised awareness of the importance of school breakfast and lunch during National School Lunch Week, which was observed from Mon., Oct. 11, through Fri., Oct. 15.
Studies have shown that students who eat a well-balanced breakfast better retain knowledge and are not so anxious to eat lunch, Thomas says. Area chefs affiliated with ACF are hoping to become more involved with area schools.
Students visited different stations to pick up the food items, and the chefs marked boxes on a paper form that indicated how many items the students were trying. A student won a prize from a drawing at the end of the event.
“Finding volunteers among the chefs usually isn’t a problem,” Thomas says. “Volunteerism is a way for people to give back, and they get something out of it just like the person they’re helping.”
