Northview’s cafeteria workers work diligently to provide students with meals amidst the pandemic

Manasa Premanand, Features Editor & Rachel Everett, Staff Writer

It is six o’clock in the morning and Northview cafeteria manager Carol Keahey is preparing for yet another day of work. She and the rest of the cafeteria staff rush to the kitchens, turning on the various cooking equipment within to start making breakfast. After breakfast is finished, there is a cleanup, then lunch, and at the end of the day, the staff once again cleans up the entire cafeteria before shutting down. While Northview’s cafeteria workers have been working diligently to preserve a sense of normalcy amidst the unprecedented changes brought by the pandemic through maintaining a rigid and structured schedule, the staff has had to make a plethora of adjustments in order to efficiently provide food for the students at Northview during this unconventional year.

Ever since the pandemic began, Fulton County has worked to provide free weekly lunch meals to students. Every Wednesday, the cafeteria workers take all of the prepped meals out to the back entrance of the cafeteria in order for them to be picked up. Each unit of meals contains five breakfast meals and five lunch meals. All the meals are prepped in addition to meals for face-to-face students, adding to the workload. 

“So that we have foods that meet the nutritional requirements. But we have a variety of entrees. And most of it includes things that we know are popular like pizza is in there every week,” Keahey said.

Although the workload might be a lot, the cafeteria workers have found an efficient way to prep meals, from prepackaging fruits and vegetables to cooking entrees and keeping them warm on the pickup day. To add to the hectic kitchen work, all meals must meet dietary guidelines mandated by Fulton County. For meals eaten in the school cafeteria Keahey is able to choose when to serve certain vegetables and snacks. Additionally, she is required to serve a preset menu for the week.

“The only thing I get to choose is  ‘Do I want to serve applesauce on Monday or Tuesday?’ or I can pick what day a week but it’s going to be on the menu for the week,” Keahey said.

Working in the cafeteria does not just include cooking and serving meals. Equipment has to be cleaned and food bought. An average day is started by cooking breakfast for students in the morning and keeping food ready and warm until it is served. After breakfast, lunch prep starts for the face-to-face students. Once all the food is served, clean-up begins. Ensuring equipment is clean and sanitized is vital and much of the day is spent cleaning. If they have other meals to prep like the free lunch meals, they will work on that after lunch service.

“I'm a jack of all trades. Sometimes I scrub floors and clean tables, I'll do anything.” Keahey said.

Keahey is not the only individual on staff who juggles a variety of roles in the cafeteria, though. Production Chef Robin Rockhill takes on a plethora of tasks while ensuring that students are well-fed during meal times. Similar to Keahey, every morning Rockhill prepares breakfast, which she later cashiers. Afterward, she cooks lunch and cashiers it and then assists the rest of the staff in the clean-up. 

As production chef, Rockhill’s role in the cafeteria is to ensure that all the items on the menu are prepared before mealtime and that they are in the amounts that the manager(s) anticipated for them to be. While her role in the cafeteria has stayed the same this year, the details of what her job entails have undergone changes. One of the major shifts in her job is that she now has to assist in preparing meal kits for the meal distributions on Wednesday. 

“Prior to [this school year], it's always been face to face. We’ve never done anything like this before,” Rockhill said. “It is a big difference trying to pack up food, get food ready for the food stop and then still make sure our kids face to face are getting what they need.”

Throughout her 29 years as a cafeteria worker, Keahey has experienced a variety of different situations, but the COVID-19 pandemic cannot compare to any of them. While working at the beginning of the pandemic, she was putting together the free lunch meals. Parents were picking up the meals and were clearly expressing their appreciation for providing food for their child(ren).

“It is making a difference; what we're doing is not something that is just totally ignored or you know forgotten about, it's a valuable service and you know we've always been proud to do it but that really hits home,” Keahey said.

In the years prior to the pandemic as well, Northview’s cafeteria workers have been the backbone of the school, tirelessly working in order to ensure that students are well-fed and healthy. With the onset of the pandemic, their hardworking and persevering attitudes have been highlighted to the rest of the community. Principal Brian Downey reciprocates this sentiment and shares what Northview has done in order to recognize its assiduous cafeteria staff. 

“Typically, we celebrate them once or twice a year. Usually, there’s one day where the administrative staff will bring them gifts,” Downey said. “I just approved a requisition for some shirts for [the cafeteria staff] with Northview gear on it.”

Downey recognizes the hard work the cafeteria staff has put into making adjustments for this school year, and especially emphasizes the benefits their new free lunch distribution program has reaped for students in the county. Many students within the county struggle financially, and being provided with free meals for the week eases the financial burdens of those students and their families. Moreover, compared to how free and reduced-price meals were distributed in the past, the current program set in place by the county does not require students to go through arduous processes in order to qualify, making the program much more accessible.

“Now, with the support of our federal government or state government, they have provided the funding to take care of everybody, “ Downey said. “So, that removes any potential stigma associated with having to, in some manner, shape, or form, admit the need for help. It just removes that stigma altogether so that [free meals] are available to everybody.”

Downey’s role in the free meal distribution process is to communicate info to the cafeteria workers and ensure that the school has the proper facilities set up to accommodate them. Additionally, he communicates info to families who receive free meals from the school about pick up dates and schedules as well as what is being offered in the lunches. 

With the unprecedented changes that were brought with the pandemic, the cafeteria staff can only learn to adapt to new, unfamiliar programs such as the preparation of the meal kits. However, despite all of these changes, the cafeteria staff’s determination towards ensuring that every student at Northview is healthy and well-fed has remained the same. 

“I think pretty much everybody on the staff here - they feel the same way.  There's some [that are] very, very dedicated to making sure every student gets a meal just like we would serve our own family,” Keahey said.