The School Nutrition Foundation (SNF) has named Mary Inzer, Director of Child Nutrition at Gadsden City Schools in AL, the recipient of one of two grants worth up to $50,000 in Winston Foodservice Equipment. The grant is among 2026 SNF Equipment Grants available to help school meal programs overcome staffing, budget or operational challenges. The additional funding supports programs working to expand fresh and scratch-made menu options, increase efficiencies and enhance the cafeteria experience to nourish students’ school days.
As enrollment has increased and more than 80% of Gadsden City Schools students qualify for free or reduced-price meals, access to healthy school breakfast and lunch supports the district’s overall mission of promoting student health and academic success. The kitchen staff works hard to provide meals to nourish students, but a lack of adequate hot food storage and outdated equipment has limited the quantity and variety of meals.
The grant will provide new holding cabinets at four elementary schools and Litchfield Middle School to keep food at proper temperatures, ensuring quality and safety. In addition, the holding cabinets allow staff to expand menus. Time and resources previously spent monitoring temperatures can now be focused on using fresh ingredients to create a greater variety of healthy options. The energy-efficient kitchen warmers will also reduce electricity consumption and ongoing operating costs for the district, allowing general funds to be allocated to other priorities.
“Our students see school meals as a lifeline and this grant helps ensure those meals are healthy and tasty,” said Mary Inzer, Director of Child Nutrition at Gadsden City Schools. “New food warmers will reduce burden and stress for staff trying to keep food safe and also help expand our menus and ensure smooth service of hot and fresh foods.”
In a recent School Nutrition Association survey of school meal program directors, 94% of respondents reported a need for more equipment and infrastructure to expand scratch preparation and reduce reliance on ultra-processed foods.
“It’s an honor to provide this grant and alleviate Mary and her team of the extra time and effort that has been required of them due to the outdated equipment,” said SNF Chair, Gay Anderson, SNS.
As the recipient of the Winston Equipment Grant, Gadsden City Schools will be awarded up to $50,000 worth of Winston equipment. They will work with Winston Foodservice representatives to get the needed equipment ordered and delivered for the next school year.
To view the grant winner’s video submission, visit: https://vimeo.com/1203613225
About School Nutrition Foundation:
The School Nutrition Foundation (SNF) is the charitable arm of the School Nutrition Association (SNA). SNF supports school nutrition professionals by offering grants and scholarships, providing free training opportunities and identifying research, trends and innovations. The 2026 SNF Equipment Grants are made possible by the generous contributions of Alto-Shaam, AmTab, Cambro Manufacturing, Food Warming Equipment Company (FWE), Fork Farms, Hobart (ITW Food Equipment Group LLC Brand), Innoseal, LTI, Inc., Vulcan (ITW Food Equipment Group LLC brand), and Winston Foodservice.
About School Nutrition Association:
The School Nutrition Association (SNA) is a national, non-profit professional organization representing 50,000 school nutrition professionals across the country. Founded in 1946, SNA and its members are dedicated to making healthy school meals and nutrition education available to all students. For more information on school meals, visit www.SchoolNutrition.org/SchoolMeals.
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