Packing lunch takes on new meaning for Highland Schools food supervisor

by Erica Peterson 

When Highland Local Schools shifted to all-remote learning on Dec. 7 due to COVID-19, teachers weren’t the only ones challenged to adjust. The food service department had to figure out how to feed 950 students who no longer set foot in school buildings. 

Food Service Supervisor Evelyn Makarek and her team already had some practice. They have been providing take-home lunches for the 160 students enrolled in the district’s Virtual Learning Academy, used by families who don’t feel comfortable sending their children to in-person classes.  

But when the entire district moved to remote learning, food services had to shift, too, preparing and distributing take-home meals on a much larger scale.  

On Dec. 14, a whopping 4,745 lunches were distributed to 950 students. Each family enrolled in the service picked up a bag with five lunches, enough for the week. Baking instructions were provided. 

Parents drove to Highland High School, where food services personnel loaded the lunches into their trunks. 

“Everything went really well, really smoothly; 954 bags got passed out,” Makarek said the next day. “We were a well-oiled machine yesterday.” 

It took lots of planning and helping hands to get there. Makarek said she started with the system she put in place to pack and distribute the 160 Virtual Learning Academy lunches from Highland High School and scaled up. 

The food service crews from all district buildings moved to the high school to assemble the lunches, expanding the eight-person HHS team to 21. Employees worked staggered shifts, putting together a week’s worth of lunches for each student.  

Five days’ worth of entrees were placed in one bag, with workers counting out 10 chicken nuggets and five mini-corndogs per bag. Five different fruits and vegetables were put in another baggie, five treats were put in a third baggie, and five cartons of milk were put in another.  

“All that’s done the week before,” Makarek said. “Then Monday morning at 6, we have 10 ladies come in to put all of these elements in one paper bag. And then a student gets one paper bag.” 

Milder weather allowed the bags to be stacked outside the high school by 8:45 a.m., ready to be put into parents’ cars at 9 a.m. 

Six people took names of students when drivers came through to ensure students with allergies or who needed gluten-free meals got the correct lunches. Four people provided contactless delivery, putting bags into cars. 

Even though hundreds of cars drove through, the assembly line kept wait times to a minimum, Makarek said. “Maybe a parent might have had to wait two minutes in line,” she said. 

Parents were very appreciative, she said, and it was fun to see students in the back seat excited to get their familiar meals. 

“We’ve heard a lot of feedback, whether through social media or parents calling here, thanking us that their student saw a school milk carton. They missed that at lunch time,” Makarek said.  

Especially for younger children, a return to a typical school lunches helps create a sense of normalcy, she said.  

Food services gets to do it all again on Jan. 4 and 11, while the district remains on remote learning. Makarek said they are ready. 

“I’ve got a great team of ladies that work at Highland,” she said. 

Makarek said decades of experience as Highland’s food service supervisor and working in food services at a nursing home formed the foundation to quickly calculate changes. 

Not only did she have to react to the pandemic, the USDA this year required all schools to provide free lunches to all students, not just those who qualify for free and reduced lunches. The district had only a few days’ notice to implement the change, she said.  

“There’s always changes with USDA regulations every year,’’ Makarek said. “But I would never have expected anything like this, free lunches for the nation, and then to have to put something like this in place for this many months. I would never have imagined that. 

“It was a little bit of shock for a few seconds, and then your brain goes to work. And I have a great support team here. Everyone is more than willing to complete all these tasks.” 

To sign up to receive a lunch, visit highlandschools.org/News.

Feature image photo caption: Highland Food Services workers gather elements for the thousands of lunches they put together for students learning at home. Photos courtesy Highland Local Schools