I’ve been working at Irvington for 14 years. I was just my grandkids’ baby sitter, and when they went full time in school, I had a lot of time. I love working in the kitchen and this was the best thing because I was able to get out in time to pick them up and drop them off.

Because I’m the one that serves breakfast, I get here at six o’clock in the morning and start preparing all the food that I need. I make the homemade fresh burritos, sandwiches, and I try to make the muffins, too. After we serve breakfast and I take my break, we go back to working on pizzas, or making hamburgers, anything else that we need.

The more difficult part of the job is sometimes just having everything on hand. Sometimes we run out of materials, and we’re struggling to get other things because we have a routine of hamburgers, this pizza, and when we run out we have to substitute. Otherwise, we have a very good team of nine people, and so we’re always helping each other out.

My manager is really good that she’s given me basically free range of how I want to make the homemade breakfast burritos, the dinner rolls with egg, and all that. Those are my ideas of doing things, but also within the limits of what the district tells us, too. We also ask what you guys like. ‘This is a new item, tell us how you like it.’ We get feedback from the kids, which really helps.

Something I enjoy is talking to the kids when they come for breakfast or lunch. I have seconds to talk to certain ones, and it’s made a difference in their lives. Those seconds that I have just to even say good morning, and they start opening up. Sometimes it’s helped other kids to be happy, because often they’re not. Just those few seconds, ‘Oh, enjoy your day,’ and just make the best out of it.

There are some kids that are just so nice that make you want to come and be here for them. They’ll say good morning, they’ll give you the best smile. And then there’s some that our brief moments have helped them to the point where they’re not running away any more. They’re able to express themselves more because they found an adult not related to them that truly cares.

I’m happy that you guys have this little section for us, because a lot of the times we feel invisible and it makes us feel like we want to keep on improving and do more for the kids.