DISTRICT UPDATES
BY ANGELICA CLAIBORNE DIRECTOR OF FOOD SERVICES MERRILLVILLE COMMUNITY SCHOOL CORPORATION
For 45 years and counting, Penny Parmley has dedicated her time and energy to school nutrition in the Merrillville Community School Corporation. She was recently honored by the school board and the corporation’s Department of Food Services. Her career: Penny Parmley is a Merrillville Community School Corporation 1971 graduate. She was hired as a cook on Nov. 1, 1977, at her alma mater. In 1980, she was promoted to assistant kitchen manager. After years of learning the ropes, she became the kitchen manager at a different elementary school. In 2008, she accepted a newly created position as manager of the Summer Food Service Program. The Summer Food Service Program serves free breakfast and lunch to our community during the summer. In 2009, she took on the biggest challenge of them all and became the manager of the brand-new Freshman Cafeteria and the catering manager at MHS (don’t tell anyone she cried the first day of school that year). In that same school year, she received the award for manager and kitchen of the year. Her firecracker meatloaf recipe was published in a previous Food for Thought. Most recently, she received an award for best Thanksgiving
grandchildren, whom she adores and enjoys spending time with. She is an active member of her church in Hebron, Indiana, and always willing to help out a friend, even with the occasional cat-sitting. She has a great sense of humor. She almost lost her entire kitchen staff once after an April Fool’s prank. Her future goals: Her goal is to work for another 45 years! She loves what she does and the constant challenges school nutrition has to offer. She believes that helping wherever she can and however she can is the best way to make a difference. Penny Parmley exemplifies the meaning of a school lunch hero. She has had a hand in serving more than two million meals in school nutrition programs. As a team player, she is always willing to visit a kitchen and offer encouragement and share her years of knowledge with the staff. As a leader, she is a role model to other food service staff on what a kitchen manager’s job is about. The Food Service Department and Merrillville Community School Corporation could not be prouder of the work and dedication she has shown these past 45 years.
dinner and November kitchen of the month recipient. She believes in working smarter, not harder, and serving quality meals to her students all while having fun. Her personal life: She is married to her knight in shining armor and has been for the past 20 years. She has one son, a wonderful daughter-in-law and three
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