Well I finally started my volunteer work. I went today to volunteer during lunch at Whittier Elementary in Boulder. After getting my tour of the school and getting some background about their ever evolving lunch program from the principal I crossed the threshold into the controlled chaos that is an elementary school lunch hour…
In reality the kids were unbelievably well-behaved and other than a few glasses of spilled milk — luckily no one cried — there were no hiccups. Most of the time I was at the window where the get their food, handing them their trays and squirting ketchup on to their sloppy joes — my drawing consisted of smiley faces and Yankees logos. The funny thing is that the window where the pick up their food is too high for the younger half of the kids so I had to help them so that they didn’t drop ground beef all over the place.
The most amazing part of lunch was the eagerness with which the kids attacked the salad bar. Heaping vegetables and fruit onto their trays with visible excitement. There’s no way I would have been eager to eat jicama when I was in first grade.There are still lots of steps to take but this is a sign of definite progress.
I should mention that the food isn’t that bad — I had a veggie patty (albeit with lots of ketchup!) and a salad with peppers, jicama, and chickpeas. Much better than nuggets and fries washed down with a sugary snapple.
Volunteering! How sweet of you.