Leelanau Essentials—the workers who keep us fed during the pandemic. Meet Suttons Bay Public Schools’ food service workers
Pictured from left to right: Sarah Nesky, food service director Doris Walter and Liz Bembeneck
From staff reports
During the statewide school shutdown prompted by the coronavirus pandemic, the food service staff at Suttons Bay Public Schools are preparing 180 bag breakfasts and lunches every weekday for students who qualify for free- and reduced-price meals. The meals are delivered to the student’s homes in two vans, and with the help of community volunteers.
That’s a lot of food. According to an April 27 Facebook post on Suttons Bay Public Schools’ page, that’s 50 pounds of meat and 12 pounds of cheese daily, cases of bread, buns, apples, clementines, pears, yogurt, cheese sticks and fruit cups. That’s an average of 515 miles a week on the vans and buses that are used to deliver these meals.
Many in the community have stepped up and donated supplies to the food service staff and drivers: Sandy Nesky supplied bandana face protectors; Susan Arnold supplied Norsemen logo face masks; the owners of MI Market supplied fabric face masks; Boone’s Primetime Pub supplied produce and bread; Marty Jelinek of Jelinek Farms supplied cases of local, fresh apples. And many parents of seniors with money left in their lunch accounts donated to Suttons Bay’s depleted lunch fund, which helps pay lunch debts for other students. The school also raised $17,000, with the help of a matching grant from the Suttons Bay/Bingham Fund of the Grand Traverse Community Foundation and a check for $1,000 from Mitten Brewing Company.
What does this work mean to you?
Walter: I have the best job! I have been in food service over 40 years, and this is the best place to be. I love all my kids, and I miss them terribly. It’s a pleasure to provide nutritious meals for them every day and get to know them and learn their likes and dislikes and hopefully earn their respect. Goodbye and good luck to all the Seniors! I’m going to miss you all.
Nesky: My job means a lot to me. Ever since I started out in the culinary field I knew I wanted to work at a school long term. When I was in grade school I always looked up to the “lunch ladies”. They set great examples and goals that inspired me to reach for my future. My passion is cooking and I love it so much. Seeing the students every day is a blessing. Getting to know what they like and dislike is important.
Bembeneck: My job means the world to me! I love seeing the kids every day (when we have school) and making them happy.
What does the work mean to the community?
Walter: I hope I’m making a difference—providing meals and a pleasant dining experience within the confines of the government rules and regulations. So many people in Suttons Bay were happy I took this position to try and get food services back into our school. Throughout the school year and during the summer months we are open to serve the children of our community. Summers provide a free place to meet up and eat up for children, and adults can participate also—for a small cost.
Nesky: The community is what makes schools stay running. We serve students even when school isn’t open. We help families by serving their children a well-balanced meal through the school year, five days a week. Now that school is closed for the remainder of the school year, we still are helping the community out by providing breakfast and lunch bags Monday through Friday for the children. It’s very important that we take our jobs seriously through this. Every day is the same—we are serving the children, just in a different way now.
Bembeneck: My work is important because we are feeding families in our community, and helping support our kids even when we can’t be in school.
How has your life changed during the pandemic?
Walter: I think we’ve pulled together better as a team at school and as a community. Personally, I miss my friends and family that won’t travel, and having to wear the dreaded masks everywhere. It makes you more suspicious of anyone around you, and people aren’t as friendly right now as they run around with their heads down, avoiding contact.
Nesky: My life has changed a little. With being a single mother, having to find a babysitter is hard. When school was open my son would be there until I was out of work. It’s a life change, but my family has stepped up to help through this. It’s giving me time to teach my son many things he needs to learn. Through this pandemic, each day is like any other day. We are still working hard. Even though the schools are closed now, we are still making food for the children. Pandemic isn’t stopping us “lunch ladies” from working. It’s making us work stronger together. We’ve learned so much from this experience. In my eyes, it’s making us a better team for the Suttons Bay Cafeteria staff for years to come.
Bembeneck: My life has changed completely. I just work and go home. I have enjoyed spending lots of time with my daughter and getting things done that I have been putting off. This pandemic has really shown that we all have to work together and it’s a blessing to see everyone coming together and working so hard to support one another.
About our Leelanau Essentials series
They are doctors, nurses and healthcare workers. They stock the shelves, slice the deli meat, and run the registers at grocery stores, they deliver your meals curbside, delicately pinching the paper bag between gloved fingers. They are the EMS first responders, the firemen and the cops. They are the distilleries that turn spirit byproduct into hand sanitizer. They drive semi trucks and delivery trucks and bring packages and food. They are postal workers. They run the food banks and the church pantries. They keep the school cafeterias open to make sure the needy families get breakfasts and lunch. They pick up our recycling and our garbage. They watch our children, and they care for our elderly. They are the farmworkers—both with and without documents—who harvest our crops.
Even as our community and our society shut down and we stay home to socially distance ourselves, these essential workers of Leelanau County show up every day and walk to the front lines to fight for us in this world war against a murderous pandemic. Let us honor our Leelanau Essentials.
Dear readers—who would you like to nominate for our Leelanau Essentials profile series? Do they have a compelling story they’re willing to share? Have they proven themselves essential to the community in recent weeks? Can they send us a photo of themselves and answer the following questions: What does my job mean to me? What does it mean to the community? How has my life changed during the coronavirus? Send submissions to editorial@GlenArborSun.com.
This story was sponsored by Northern Latitudes Distillery in Lake Leelanau.
