River Road ISD Food Service Director Bridges the Gap Between Community Service and Student Nutrition

How has the food service director of a small school district balanced the needs of her community while tending to the nutritional needs of her students? By mixing traditional grassroots support and forward-thinking innovations in menu planning.

In her first year as River Road Independent School District food service director, Kim Terry has had the opportunity to participate in a good old-fashioned, help-your-neighbors-style fundraiser while assisting in designing and setting up a new high school cafeteria. Both experiences provided Terry a chance to work closely with River Road ISD staff, parents, students and the community at large.

The fundraiser, designed to assist a River Road graduate and the mother of two River Road students, took place on March 6, 2008, and fed 580 community members. Terry said, "The Amarillo National Bank brought a cookout wagon and cooked burgers. People just kept coming. We had to get more meat when we realized we were about to run out." Desserts, money and prizes, including a flat-screen television, were donated and a raffle was held. "It was amazing," Terry said. "We raised about $10,000 that night. Everybody came."

Terry's experience in helping set up the new high school cafeteria was equally rewarding. "Because we decided to set it up like a food court, we had to consider the flow of the lines and how students would be coming in and going out," Terry said. She learned that, depending on how many students were being served, she had to strike a balance between hot food and salads, whether she would do reimbursable meals or a la carte, and how to package and present the foods once all the other decisions had been made. "It really comes down to marketing," Terry said. "We put all the salads in clear containers so the students can see what they are getting. Presentation is important, so we implemented training on how to put all the meals together. There was some level of trial and error involved."

Terry would advise anyone setting up a new cafeteria to begin by being clear about the kinds of foods that will be offered. Doing so, she said, goes a long way in helping determine the stations and the equipment that will be needed.

In addition to her fundraising and cafeteria designing work, Terry has also made great strides in improving the nutrition of the foods being served at River Road ISD. "Of course we start with the guidelines we are given," Terry said, "but we also try and take it a step further." Having grown up in the United Kingdom where she was used to eating strictly fresh or frozen fruits and vegetables, Terry was shocked to see how many canned foods were being served to the students. "One of my biggest things is offering fresh or frozen vegetables and fruits," Terry said. She also provides more whole grains and whole wheat products, including freshly baked whole wheat bread made from scratch; uses only low-fat dairy products in meal offerings; and, depending on what the season and the budget allows, offers fresh cut fruit and at least two fresh vegetables a day. "Kids really like our relish bowl, a medley of raw carrots, celery, olives, grape tomatoes and the like," Terry said.

Over the past year, Terry has implemented a lot of changes to the district's menus. She stresses the importance of continually introducing new foods to students in an effort to get them to eat healthier. "Even if it means adding fresh vegetables to meat dishes," Terry said. "We need to do anything and everything we can to improve student nutrition."