We’ve Got Your Back
We’ve Got Your Back
“POP YOUR TRUNK” Reflections from a school nutrition volunteer during the pandemic.
snow, the sleet, the heat, and the wind. They will tell how nothing could stop you from making sure they had food.
One 12-year-old boy in Redding of the Enterprise School District told me of his gratitude for the meals I provided for him and his brother and sisters. He also told me of that he “hoped COVID-19 would never go away.” I asked why? He shared with me that the pandemic not only gave his family food, but it also “gave him his Daddy every dinner and they throw a ball to each other every day.” Once COVID-19 went away, he “would lose his Daddy too, because he would go back to work.”
School Nutrition Partner MATT UPTON
“April 10, 2020, while the rain and wind blew across the circular driveway of Onaga Elementary School in the Morongo School, in Yucca Valley, California we filled the trunks of families with food to sustain students for the following week. Each child of every family received a gallon of milk, along with a breakfast, lunch, and snack for the following week of spring break. This level of service happened across America both in inner cities and rural communities. This provision of meals happened for every family that would make their way down to the curb of their school. In some locations where families could not make it to the curb side serve site, the staff found a way to get the meals delivered to them. This is the first time in modern day history that this level of food was provided for families and the first time it was coordinated through school food service personnel.“ When the pandemic was brought to the national conscience on March 13, 2020, within a few hours, LG’s (Lunch Girls and Guys) were meeting and mapping how they would continue to bring their best Serve to their students. Everyone at schools were staying in place and learning how to create virtual backgrounds on their Zoom accounts and LG’s were heading to the Curb to Serve.
LG’s systematically figured out how to accomplish what had never been done before, they bought popup awnings, rolling ice chests, and created numbering systems to know how much food to place in the trunks and truck beds for the families of their students.
You brought your heart and soul to the curb every week through the pandemic, and you changed lives and
perspectives. As I stood alongside you and helped serve 1.5 million meals, I witnessed the best of the best of every school district bringing their Serve to their students. I stand and applaud you; I admire you; I want to be more like you. Every challenge that was tossed your direction, you conquered. Your community, your town, your city, your county and all their families are indebted to you and have become better through your Serve.
Along the way they gained the title of “essential worker,” made the cover
12
of Time Magazine and became the heart and face of every school district in the nation.
Yet, in the midst of all these historical events, the greatest was accomplished in the families that could continue to have uninterrupted utilities in their homes because of your tireless Serve. In some cases, needed medications were purchased through the funds they did not need to use for food. Though it is true, as an LG you may not have been adequately financially or verbally appreciated by your school district, students will tell stories of these days. They will talk of your smiling faces and big hearts. They will tell their kids the miracle of their Lunch Girl or Guy who met them at the curb of their school in the rain, the
When there is anything I can do for you, please allow me the honor to Serve You.
School Nutrition Partner Matt Upton is a friend and fan of LG’s “Lunch Girls and Guys” everywhere. Durning the COVID-19 Pandemic he hooked up his 29’ travel trailer and tugged it near 5000 miles and stood alongside LG’s and helped serve just over 1.5 million meals curbside and on busses … in every weather condition imaginable. Matt has been part of school nutrition since 2001 Building Confidence, Coaching towards Connective Communication, developing Customer Allegiance, and unveiling the hidden treasure within staff conflict. He has conducted a ten minute Facebook Live broadcast at 707 “Your 707 Challenge” everyday since beginning of the Pandemic on March 13, 2020. Matt Upton
Powered by FlippingBook