School lunch highlights from mountain plains

Food and Nutrition, Oct, 1985 by Joanne Widner

School Lunch Highlights From Mountain Plains

Brentwood, Missouri

In Brentwood School District in St. Louis, Missouri, food service manager Donna Keyser has three schools--one junior-senior high and two elementary schools. She promotes the lunch program in a variety of ways, depending on the age and interests of her customers.

For junior high school students she has "Lucky Plate Days.' Special stickers are placed at random on four or five lunch trays for each shift. The children who get the special trays get free ice cream with their lunches.

In one of the elementary schools, Keyser has a birthday party once a month for children whose birthdays fall in that month; she asks a mother to come to school that day to help serve the cake. Her other elementary school has a breakfast day once a month, with a full breakfast, including biscuits with honey butter. That school usually serves only a la carte breakfasts.

For more information, contact:

Donna Keyser Brentwood School District 1775 Parkridge Ave. Brentwood, Missouri 63144 Telephone: (314) 962-3837

Sydney, Nebraska

June Katen, Sydney, Nebraska, food service manager, competes successfully with the fast food chains in an open-campus atmosphere by using everything she can to interest students.

She has a fast food line that offers seven or eight different sandwiches (including a baconburger). She also has a regular-meal line and a salad bar with lots of fresh fruit.

She posts signs to inform students how many calories are needed for various sports and energy-related activities. She watches any local food trends, so she can keep her program competitive.

Out of an enrollment of 1,122 students, Katen feeds an average of 792. The program operates in the black, with no funding from the school district.

For more information, contact:

June Katen Sydney Public Schools 1128 Nineteenth Ave. Sydney, Nebraska 69162 Telephone: (308) 254-2508

Lander, Wyoming

Wendy Haddenham is fighting an uphill battle in Lander, Wyoming. Her high school is surrounded by five fast food operations. To compete, Haddenham uses posters to show students a comparison of "their' price and hers, "their' lunch selections and hers, to demonstrate the value of school lunch.

She also makes posters that illustrate what the kids could do with the money saved by eating lunch at school. The examples make the message clear: buy lunch at school this week and have enough for a movie date this weekend . . . buy lunch at school for several weeks and save for a special purchase later on.

For more information, contact:

Wendy Haddenham Lander High School 1000 Main Lander, Wyoming 82520 Telephone: (307) 332-5377

Scottsbluff, Nebraska

Lake Alice School, on the outskirts of Scottsbluff, Nebraska, has 100-percent participation in its school lunch program. All 81 students in kindergarten through eighth grade eat lunch at school.

Manager Bonnie Hoff puts a lot of heart in her program. The students plan the menus, and the planner is honored on the day the menu is served with window banners and a special 7:15 a.m. announcement on the local radio station.

Hoff and her helper bake and decorate a miniature birthday cake on each child's birthday, too. The birthday child may take the cake home or share it with friends at lunchtime.

For more information, contact:

Bonnie Hoff Lake Alice School Route 2, Box 302 Scottsbluff, Nebraska 69361 Telephone: (308) 632-4295

Minatare, Nebraska

Thelma Gilbert, manager at rural Lake Minatare School (grades K-8) near Scottsbluff, Nebraska, sounds like a one-woman public relations firm.

The local newspaper doesn't print any school news, so she reaches the community on her own in several ways. This past school year she had a booth at the fair and a first-prize float in the Oregon Trail parade in nearby Gering, Nebraska. She saved the float and exhibit and used them again to promote National School Lunch Week, when parents and grandparents visited the school.

To encourage the children to eat lunch, Gilbert has pizza-plate "smiling face' and "frowning face' displays that she hangs up, depending on whether or not children eat all of their food. She works with some of the grades to plan special menus, and helps others with food-related projects.

Gilbert feels so strongly about the lunch program that she has written seven letters to members of Congress supporting it, and has encouraged students in upper grades to write their own letters.

For more information, contact:

Thelma Gilbert Route 1 Minatare, Nebraska 69356 Telephone: (308) 783-1134