Food Connects is launching a new series highlighting the amazing essential workers in our community who work hard every day to keep our children fed. Read on to learn more!
Linda Griffin
Linda Griffin has worked in school food service for the past 3 to 4 years. She is trained to work at Oak Grove School, Green Street School, and Academy School. She drives the food delivery van between these three schools so she is at each school every day. We sat down recently and had a chat about her work and how things have changed for her this spring. Here are some highlights from that conversation:
“I got to know kids in every single school because I got to work at every one of them. When I go out sometimes I see a kid and he’ll say, ‘Hey mom, I know her, she’s the lunch lady!’”
Sheila Humphreys (SH): How has your work changed due to COVID-19?
Linda Griffin (LG): I’m not driving the delivery van anymore which I like because the loading and unloading is a lot of heavy lifting which hurts my back. What we’re doing now with packing food for the bus delivery is also a lot of heavy lifting and I don’t think I could do both.
In the kitchen, we’re preparing similar food, but the quantities are a lot more and we’re doing it in the same amount of time. We’re providing breakfast, lunch, and dinner now. When we took on doing dinners that made it a little more stressful but now that we’ve been doing them a while we’ve got our systems down. We weren’t sure we could pull it off in the same amount of time that we were doing breakfast and lunch, but we’ve got it figured out now so it’s fine.
SH: What is keeping you going during these unusual times?
LG: It keeps me going to have something to do every day when I wake up in the morning, someplace to go. I don’t know if I could have handled this sitting at home doing nothing and not being able to see my kids or my grandkids. I’m not the kind of person who can sit around doing nothing. Having this job has definitely saved me from going stir crazy.
SH: What has been your biggest challenge during this time?
LG: My biggest challenge has been not seeing my family. My grandkids came over last weekend and it’s the first time I've seen them since this started. It was so nice! We sat outside and chatted about “old times.” It was funny, they aren’t little kids anymore, but it’s not like you would think they’d be sitting around talking about what we used to do, but they were.
SH: How can the community support you and other food service workers during this time?
LG: The community can support us by volunteering and helping out, and by saying thank you for what we do. That means a lot.
SH: What advice would you give to someone who is interested in working in school food service?
LG: Absolutely do it! It’s fun. We have a great time! It’s busy, you’ve got something to do every minute so the day goes by fast and we have fun. We talk, we play the radio. When school’s in session you get to see the kids and that’s really nice. I got to know kids in every single school because I got to work at every one of them. When I go out sometimes I see a kid and he’ll say, “Hey mom, I know her, she’s the lunch lady!”
SH: What brings you joy?
LG: My kids, my family, and getting up and being able to go to work every day.
SH: What are you grateful for?
LG: I’m grateful for having a job, my family, my kids, my friends, the school, and working with the kids. I like people!