700 Meals A Day
Over 100,000 Meals Per Year!
Jesus fed the 5000, and our team of skilled cooks feeds 700 students and staff at the Sassier Parish school about 150 days a year–over 100,000 meals a year!
Providing a hot lunch to the students is extremely important, particularly after the Hurricane last October. Many families have enough food for only one meal per day, so children come to school hungry. Children with empty tummies cannot learn. Without food, the little ones begin crying from hunger by 10 AM. Lack of protein and vitamins cause multiple developmental problems.
How do they do it?
Before dawn, our cooks arrive to begin the preparations. Large pots of water begin boiling, ingredients prepared and sacks of rice, millet, or cornmeal are carried from the storerooms. Since the Hurricane in October, a Government program has provided the basics, but our dedicated cooks make sure to add spices and other touches to make the mundane into a real meal. The school also pays salaries and a variety of other costs.
Most cooking is done on propane stoves, but sometimes wood is used as a backup, as in the day we visited.
The preschool children begin eating about 930 AM; many have not eaten before school. Then kindergarten, and all the grades in sequence. 13th graders eat about 130 PM. Plates and spoons are washed multiple times along the way.
What’s for lunch? On the day of our visit, children enjoyed a fish stew, along with rice and a black bean sauce. The fish and bean sauce are a great source of protein and the rice fills up hungry tummies.
After the last plates are washed, the pots are scrubbed and the kitchen cleaned, our cooking team’s work is done for the day. A long day, but such important work!
We are very grateful to these dedicated ladies! Please keep them in your thoughts and prayers.