SN Magazine: May 2020
School Nutrition: You’re All Heroes
View Digital Edition
Aprons are just capes that are worn in the front.
In the last few months, school nutrition professionals stepped up to the enormous challenge of continuing to provide a hunger safety net by operating emergency feeding sites at schools and other locations across the country. The stories that have come out of this intense labor of love have run the gamut of emotions, but what they all have in common is the deep devotion school nutrition professionals have for their students. Each day, they prove they are deserving of the title “hero.”
As the pandemic continues to halt “normal” life, in its
May edition, School Nutrition took a deep dive into how these heroes have adapted and overcome surmounting challenges. It took a few weeks for emergency feeding operations to start operating
smoothly and safely, because there were so many unforeseen challenges—many of which were unique to these last-minute operations—from food refrigeration to meal packaging. But through
crowdsourcing, teamwork and creativity, solutions were found. (And these solutions did involve a few unicorns and sharks.) And through all of these valuable, unforeseen lessons, school foodservice teams are now better prepared to
handle a future crisis scenario.
While many staff volunteered to work these emergency operations, some staff were unable to or chose not to. To keep these staff members
engaged and learning, while not directly in the building, directors are implementing creative methods of digital meetings, online trainings, videos and much more.
Articles at a Glance:
Creativity in the Time of COVID-19
Preparing for the Next Big Crisis
Staying Engaged While Staying Away
My Leadership Journey: Aaron Wylie