‘I don’t want any child to go hungry while schools are closed’

The Vital Work of Food Service Workers During the COVID-19 Crisis

Yolanda Fisher has been a food service worker in the Dallas public schools for 27 years, providing meals every day for hundreds of students. Now that schools are closed to students, she and her crew of two food service workers get together in the school cafeteria four days a week to prepare and package 600 breakfasts, 600 lunches and 600 dinners. Then every Monday and Thursday, their day starts at about 6:30 a.m., when they get ready to distribute the meals to about 300 students in COVID-19 quarantine.

“People start lining up all down the street outside the school before we even start handing out meals,” Fisher says. The Dallas Independent School District is providing food for free while schools are closed. “At first we were providing meals only to children under 18, but now we’ve been directed not to turn anyone away.”

“It’s challenging to put together so many meals with so few people,” says Fisher, who manages a regular staff of nine food service workers. Her crew is down to three, including herself, because of social distancing requirements to stem the spread of the coronavirus.

Food Service Workers and Staying Safe on the Job

Fisher does worry about putting her family, including a 4-year-old grandchild, who live with her, in harm’s way. But she says, “I know we are helping people who really need it. And we are doing everything we can to stay safe: We wear gloves, and I’ve purchased masks for my crew from a lady I know who makes them.”

The food that Fisher and her workers prepare and distribute is meant to cover three meals per day for three days. As the second-largest school district in Texas, DISD has a student population of about 155,000, with nearly 88 percent who are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. The district is handing out roughly 10,000 meals each day with the food it provides for pickup at school sites around the city.

“I love the work I do, because I love to serve,” Fisher says. “Jesus was a servant. I’m serving meals to kids who otherwise might not have food.”

Yolanda Fisher is a food service manager at a Dallas Independent School District middle school and a member of Alliance/AFT.

• This blog was originally published on Medium and can be found here.
• Read how paraprofessionals and school-related personnel are driving change and making impacts in school communities during the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Find more resources for paraprofessionals and school-related personnel in our free collection of resources.
• For more information on coronavirus, visit our detailed, free collection of resources, lesson plans and tip sheets.
• Check out this interview with Yolanda Fisher.