In the midst of the covid-19 pandemic, the cafeteria staff at Quaker Valley School District began preparing free meals to be taken home by students who received free or reduced-cost lunches during initial school closures in the spring of 2020. This comprised about 20 percent of the Quaker Valley student population.

“Usually people think of Sewickley as being a very affluent area, but there are still kids who need us,” said Carla Escribano, director of food and nutrition services for Quaker Valley School District.

After summer break, the free meals program was expanded so that any child who lived in the district was able to receive breakfasts and lunches five days a week. These meals could be picked up through a drive-thru setup that was run by cafeteria staff every Wednesday.

That staff saw a steep increase in meals prepared from the beginning of the pandemic into the 2020-2021 school year. Initially, they were producing 200 meals a week for students who received free or reduced-cost lunch.

“When we did that (opened up to the entire district), our numbers went up to 2,000 meals per week,” Escribano said.

Putting together that many meals per week isn’t easy, especially when many of the foods are made from scratch and packaged separately to make the meals easier to reheat. Pasta and chicken teriyaki stir fry are favorites of the Quaker Valley students. The cafeteria staff also ensured that the students got fruits and vegetables with these take-home meals.

Brenda Kovacs, the district’s kitchen coordinator, is a lifelong resident of the Quaker Valley area. She attended Quaker Valley, as did her children, and she says that they’re feeling a little jealous these days.

“My kids say, ‘This wasn’t what we had for lunch when I was in school!’” Kovacs said.

The hard work hasn’t been without its stressful moments. When schools shut down during the spring semester of 2020, the cafeteria workers were the only district employees working on-site.

“When the spring started, everyone was in their houses, nobody knew what was going to happen, nobody could leave, and the food service department was the only department here,” Escribano said.

The cafeteria workers from each of the district’s different schools would gather in one kitchen to cook and assemble meals for those students who needed them most.

“The most important thing is the kids, we don’t care about anything else. If we have to be here to feed the kids, we have to,” Escribano said.

“It’s stressful right now for the whole family, but now they can go back home and have a meal together. You’ve made people happy and we’ve done what we have to do,” said Jeicy Reese, a two-year cafeteria worker at Quaker Valley High School.

The shutdown also allowed the “cafeteria queens” to come together and form deep bonds during this year of adversity.

“It was really great for us to be together and work as a team and finally be able to bond really well together. We’re not coworkers, we’re family, we’re friends, we love each other,” Kovacs said.

The whole area has shown gratitude for the group. Parents even put together collections to buy every member of the staff Christmas gifts at the end of 2020.

The kids who they’ve fed over this difficult year often accompany their parents to the Wednesday drive-thru meal pickups, and Kovacs has enjoyed getting to know the neighbors and community members who she’s feeding.

“I love the kids. The only reason I continue to do this is because I love the kids,” she said. “Nothing makes me feel better than when I’m out in the community and I hear ‘Miss Brenda!’ and the kids are excited. It’s good to be respected by the kids.”

Escribano said she is proud of her entire crew and how they have brought the community together.

“As a director, usually I don’t get a lot of one-on-one with the kids. … Since covid-19 started, I’ve been able to know the parents more, know the kids more. I go to sleep every day fine because I know that there are kids being fed,” she said.

She’s also grateful to the school district for allowing her staff to provide so generously to Quaker Valley residents. These workers are strongly committed to caring for each and every child that they can, she said.

”(The kids) have told me that this is the best food they have all day. It is our job to take care of them,” Kovacs said. “We need to be that support for the kids because we are the only part of the day when they’re not being asked for anything. We’re asking them what they want.”

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