
{"id":12099,"date":"2022-04-29T19:56:41","date_gmt":"2022-04-29T19:56:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/state.nokidhungry.org\/georgia\/?p=12099"},"modified":"2022-04-29T19:56:41","modified_gmt":"2022-04-29T19:56:41","slug":"school-meals-i-have-the-best-job-in-the-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/state.nokidhungry.org\/georgia\/2022\/04\/29\/school-meals-i-have-the-best-job-in-the-world\/","title":{"rendered":"School Meals: \u201cI Have the Best Job in the World\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Chef Reggie has the best job in the world.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI am a product of Fulton County schools,\u201d he shared, proud of his role as district chef.\u00a0 \u201cI went through elementary, middle, high school, and I graduated and went to college in Atlanta. It\u2019s a full circle.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>For him, there aren\u2019t two days that look the same.<\/p>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"image-style-large alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nokidhungry.org\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/large\/public\/2022-03\/Chef%20Reggie%201.png?itok=lPMkioup\" alt=\"Chef reggie dressed a spiderman with little kids\" width=\"360\" height=\"480\" \/>One day, he may be dressed as a watermelon or Spiderman promoting the fruit of the month; the next day, he may be introducing high schoolers to a new meal that represents the diverse ethnicities of kids that go to school in Fulton County. He knows these experiences matter and dreams of how far his students will go.<\/p>\n<article class=\"media media--type-image media--view-mode- view-mode-embed media-image\">\n<div class=\"inner-wrap\">\n<div class=\"field field--name-field-image field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<article class=\"media media--type-image media--view-mode- view-mode-embed media-image\">\n<div class=\"inner-wrap\">\n<div class=\"field field--name-field-image field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"image-style-large\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nokidhungry.org\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/large\/public\/2022-03\/Chef%20Reggie%202.png?itok=HDM10-aE\" alt=\"Chef Reggie dressed as a watermelon\" width=\"360\" height=\"480\" \/><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<p>\u201cI want them to go to different parts of Asia,\u201d he shares. \u201cI want them to visit the Caribbean.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But Chef Reggie is not the only one who says he has the best job in the world. Denielle Saitta, serves as project manager of communications for the district\u2019s school nutrition. She is able to witness the incredible work of the nutrition staff and to experience the pouring gratitude of families in social media.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe&#8217;ve got an amazing team,\u201d she says. \u201cCentral office is stellar. Our managers and food service workers, they are the kings and queens of my heart for everything they have done.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/lh4.googleusercontent.com\/4ODvxu2zR3hdlJKfvW1zioD2Mq8Vs58LakYm37cZ1neK2MfFC5ou5HgL_uaOFdgjEvPNtApYMN7sjTlfR6ab1jaCp23lDyV7XsuB2FvD3iOAhmfNcAwj_rvLNroH2cbqMIbKbxz2\" alt=\"\" width=\"369\" height=\"491\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Like many districts across the nation, the last two years have been extremely challenging, with ever changing restrictions, the risk and fear of the pandemic and the ongoing difficulties with supply chain disruptions and staffing. But through thick and thin, they have been there to serve meals to kids.<\/p>\n<p>Chef Reggie and Denielle Saitta have witnessed families going through challenging moments.<\/p>\n<p>Chef Reggie remembers a child who lost his parents to the opioid epidemic and had to go live with his grandparents who were already tight for money.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat child is definitely hungry in the morning,\u201d he shared. \u201cThat&#8217;s why I stayed in the county. Because I grew up in certain situations where I had friends and neighbors and all those types of things happening. To be able to use my skills to provide nutritious meals, but also getting something they&#8217;re interested in and they like\u2026 that&#8217;s a plus for me. That makes me feel happy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Chef Reggie also remembers three girls who experienced homelessness, or a mom fostering five kids and her immense gratitude for the support during the school closures. The stories go on and on.<\/p>\n<p>For Saitta, the challenges of families are just a reason to keep going.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c\u2018Sad\u2019 I don&#8217;t know is the correct word,\u201d she explained. \u201cBecause anytime those situations occurred, we took it to our team like, \u2018Okay, this is what we&#8217;re kind of consistently getting. How can we correct this?\u2019 It almost empowered us to do more.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Every day, Fulton County Schools provides meals for students in 97 schools. They receive hot breakfast, lunch and snacks. The district has also delivered meals during pandemic-related school closures, holiday breaks and summer.\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nokidhungry.org\/what-we-do\/grant-impact\">With the support of No Kid Hungry<\/a>, they were able to purchase important equipment, supplement their staffing and communicate better with families about school meals.<\/p>\n<p>But with your support, you have also given them the chance to hang out with Chef Reggie.<\/p>\n<p>Every year, he invites kids to enter the school garden. With their tiny hands, they dig the soil and plant seeds that will become their meals in the future. Chef Reggie knows that all kids have the potential to grow and provide for their community like those tiny seeds, but only if they have the fuel to do it.<\/p>\n<article class=\"media media--type-image media--view-mode- view-mode-large media-image\">\n<div class=\"inner-wrap\">\n<div class=\"field field--name-field-image field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nokidhungry.org\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/large_1x\/public\/2022-03\/Fulton%201.png?h=d318f057&amp;itok=iw3i2Ywh\" alt=\"Kid with watermelon cup\" \/><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<p>\u201cJoin me for lunch. Please, join me\u2026you will see how much the kids love it\u201d said Chef Reggie, inviting people to support the fight against childhood hunger. \u201cWhen you donate to No Kid Hungry, you&#8217;re donating to the future. You&#8217;re really putting a stamp on the future and making sure that they have the tools that they need to be successful. It&#8217;s just bigger than school lunch and breakfast. It&#8217;s the tools that the kids and the people gain from what we receive. And I think that&#8217;s a beautiful thing. And, hey, nobody wants to see a kid go hungry.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nokidhungry.org\/ways-you-can-help\">Join us.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Chef Reggie has the best job in the world. \u201cI am a product of Fulton County schools,\u201d he shared, proud of his role as district chef.\u00a0 \u201cI went through elementary,&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-12099","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-breakfast"},"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>School Meals: \u201cI Have the Best Job in the World\u201d - GEORGIA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nkh-state-nkh-state.pantheonsite.io\/georgia\/2022\/04\/29\/school-meals-i-have-the-best-job-in-the-world\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"School Meals: \u201cI Have the Best Job in the World\u201d - 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