On The Front Lines Falling in Love... All Over Again.
so we partnered with our transportation department and created a mobile distribution route along with our curbside distribution. We had 7 routes, with 50 stops and averaged 1200 meal sacks per week. The collaboration was a complete success! The Transportation Director and the employees were all so willing to help us service our students. As I visited a mobile stop, I witnessed one of the transportation employees tearing up. She thanked me for allowing her to be part of something so important and special. Again, I was struck with how lost I had become over the years. I had gotten so caught up in running a program that I had forgotten to stop and be present and engaged. My goal for 2021 will be to step away from the daily grind and give myself time to fall in love, all over again with Child Nutrition. And all it took to get me there was a global pandemic.
Fig Video
I started my Child Nutrition career at 23 years old. I spent two weeks in a school nutrition rotation during my internship to becoming a Registered Dietitian and I never looked back. I fell in love. I knew this was where I would spend my career and make a difference. Fast forward 15 years, I have worked on both the operator and industry side, with 12½ years as a Child Nutrition Director. I have spent the last 7½ years at Franklin Township Community School Corporation building an innovative, financially solid, well known and FUN program, known as Star Express. Or so I thought. March 2020 hit us like a brick wall. Like all Child Nutrition programs we had to create and execute a curbside distribution program in a day. We had no idea if our plan would be successful. I had never fed curbside in a pandemic! Have you? Thankfully, it was a success - for our students and for our team. The success of our curbside distribution program was thrilling. I had forgotten how good it felt to create something from the ground up. I designed my program in the first few years I was at Franklin Township and had been riding on the status quo since. I had settled into the thinking of “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” But I had lost so much in that thought process. I missed the excitement, fun and most importantly growth which accompanies overcoming a challenge. In November 2020, the district was faced with another forced closure. I wanted to expand the reach to our community, Child Nutrition Director, Franklin Township Community School Corporation - Indianapolis, IN Betsey Willard, RDN
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A fresh perspective on culinary design.
Interview Video
Betsey talks candidly with Marlon & Breanna about how the pandemic helped her fall in love with child nutrition all over again. ARTICLE RECAP
Reitano
Betsey Willard, RDN is the Child Nutrition Director of the Star Express Child Nutrition Programs at Franklin Township Community School Corporation. Betsey has a 15-year background in School Nutrition including food service equipment sales, consultant for the Region 9 Central Indiana Education Services Co-op and an Indiana School Nutrition Association speaker/trainer. Her most famous training being Procurement, after which she gave herself the title of “Queen of Procurement”. Betsey holds a degree in Dietetics from Indiana University and serves as a preceptor for the Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, Dietetic Internship. Betsey’s favorite things about School Nutrition are the relationships she has made throughout her career. She has grown and learned from so many of her talented colleagues.
www.ReitanoDesignGroup.com “It’s not about serving healthier food, it is about enticing children to eat healthier.” Scott Reitano, Principal
RDG Focus on Primary Ed
Betsey Willard RDN
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