Lunch Ladies: In the Wake of Coronavirus:

“Lunch Ladies” At Nauset Feed the Hungry

By Greg O’Brien

 O’B. Note: The "Lunch Ladies" of Outer Cape Cod are pitching in, as many around the country, in helping to feed the hungry, from young children to seniors, while bracing from Coronavirus. From first responders to the “Lunch Ladies,” we all live in a pretty caring country…

“For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me.”

Matthew 25:35-36

The “Lunch Ladies” at Nauset Regional School District are doing the Lord’s work, as Coronavirus bears down on all of us, and in all ways.

It’s 10 am on a windy, bone chilling, rainy morning last Thursday, the polar opposite of spring.  Coronavirus and its terrifying wake seems to dampen the spirit of everything these days. But not the plucky lunch ladies at Nauset. They are on the front lines of this battle, feeding the hungry, welcoming all—from young children and their parents to seniors.

Dressed in head-to-toe foul weather gear that looks like a cross between a deep-sea fisherman and a Disney character, Lisa Chappel, cafeteria manager at Orleans Elementary School, stands under a bright yellow square tent, you can’t miss it at the school’s entrance, with the Nauset Logo emblazoned with: “Nauset Dining Services…Nauset Public Schools.” She’s passing out specially packaged breakfasts and lunches, all properly sanitized, to the cars and trucks queued up like a scene from the Field of Dreams: “If you build it, they will come.” And yes, Nauset is building it, in terms of caring, good will, and feeding the hungry. And the community, indeed, is responding with grateful hearts, thousands of them. 

“How are you kiddos doing?” Lisa asks with a broad smile, reaching into a gray Toyota Tacoma pick-up truck, with dad behind the wheel, and three young passengers, all smiles flashing back. She hands them each a packaged breakfast of fresh fruit, milk, Frosted Flakes, a hard-boiled egg and a breakfast pastry, along with a packaged lunch of a ham and cheese sandwich, fresh fruit, milk, and freshly baked cookies from the elementary school kitchen. Dad got breakfast and lunch, as well, and a hand-off for Mom. The menu changes daily, Nauset’s equivalent of Stop & Shop’s Grab and Go.

“We want everyone to have full tummies, and to be safe and sound,” Lisa tells me, as the next vehicle pulls up.

Last week, as on average weeks since Coronavirus shut the schools down, the lunch ladies—aka Nauset Region’s cafeteria employees—prepared about 2,600 breakfasts and lunches that were distributed between 10 am and 2 pm, two meals at a time, wrapped in sanitized plastic bags, lunch for the day, breakfast for tomorrow. The meals are being prepared and distributed by Nauset staff, all at risk now on the firing line: at Orleans Elementary, Stony Brook Elementary in Brewster, Eastham Elementary, and Wellfleet Elementary. In addition, 600 breakfasts and lunches weekly are being distributed through the program at Cape Cod Tech in Harwich, and scores of hot meals weekly to Council on Aging centers in Brewster, Orleans and Eastham, handed out at Nauset High School.

The program is available to all—from the young to 18, and to seniors. “But we don’t turn anyone away,” says Lisa. “We just ask how many bags you want.”

Given Nauset is closed, the breakfast/lunch program is being funded through the Orleans Church of the Holy Spirit’s summer feeding program, “Food for Kids,” part of a US Department of Agriculture free summer outreach to feed children while on summer break. Nauset’s program will run until June 26 (unless school re-opens earlier), then the church will oversee distribution.

Inside Orleans Elementary, in the school auditorium, rows and rows of long cards tables are set up, as they are at other distribution points. The tables, all carefully sterilized, are filled with breakfast and lunch bags ready for distribution, while staff is cooking away in the adjacent kitchen.

Susan Murray, Nauset director for Food and Nutrition Services, is the field commander-in-chief of this operation, and directs with military precision and the passion of a first responder. 

“We’re running a triage kitchen…actually,” she says, sitting at a table about ten feet away from me, safe distancing. “We’ll feed as many as possible; we just want to help.”

Adds Cindy Deoliveria, Nauset Middle School Kitchen Manager, a mother of five with three grandchildren, “No one can fathom what is happening. We’re doing everything we can. We’ve all adjusted to this new role.”

And in record time. Nauset Regional School District Superintendent Tom Conrad, sort of the General Patton of this mission, praises his staff’s dedication and immediate response to the crisis. “This program was up and running the day after schools closed,” he says with pride. “It underscores the full commitment of our incredible staff.”

At 2 pm on this rainy, cold day, when only courage and love from above warms the air, Lisa Chappel, looks back at the empty card tables, then says to me, “This challenge is overwhelming. God has my back! I’m afraid. I’m scared. We just gotta keep the faith. That’s all we can count on…”

She pauses for a second, then adds, “We’re putting the ‘cool’ back into being a Lunch Lady.”

(Greg O’Brien is former Chair of the Nauset Regional School Committee, and former editor & publisher of The Cape Codder.)