Everyone has so much free time right now but somehow I have ended up busier than ever. You might be wondering how that happened in a time where we are asked to stay home? My mom works at Mountain Crest High School (my heart still bleeds blue and green) and she is the lunch secretary. With the whole pandemic of Covid-19, the schools have offered free lunch/breakfast for every kid 0-18 years old. I think the government didn’t believe that this would have a huge turnout; however, as days went past it slowly curved upwards and the demand is high for these lunches. My mom started helping the MC lunch ladies put together the lunches. Well MC started counting how many they were doing and they were starting to reach numbers in the 400’s. They couldn’t make enough lunches in the morning with the hands that they already had hired. In the meantime, I was starting to apply for jobs right when this whole pandemic hit. So every place I applied couldn’t take me because they were cutting back hours for their current employees, so I was having the worst luck. With the little bit of luck I had left, I asked my mom if they would be willing to take me on in the cafeteria to help make the lunches. My mom talked to the manager and they were so happy to have more help. Next thing I know I am waking up at 5 a.m. and working till 1 p.m. I have been putting in harder work days than I ever have at any other job I’ve had. 

In the morning we make the lunches in an assembly line and then by 11 a.m., 3 buses come to get us and we take them out to the bus stops. I love going out on the bus and seeing the kids’ faces light up when we give them their food for the day. Inside the sacks there are usually 5-8 items. There is always milk, breakfast items, the main lunch item, fruit, vegetable, and sometimes a treat. We have slowly found out that we are running out of food. The beloved Uncrustables, that the school always has, are nowhere to be found. That is one of many items that we can not order anymore. The school lunches are getting scarce and repetitive because we cannot find the food to fill them anymore. We have been getting complaints about the lunches that they aren’t good or not enough food. I think that the parents and kids should just be grateful because it is free!!! Despite the setbacks, I just know that I am grateful that I have a job and that I could be serving families that are in need of food during the pandemic.