Black History Month | SNS Dining Staff

To celebrate and honor Black History Month, Student Nutrition Services (SNS) took the time to sit down with a few dining staff members to hear about their experience working in their schools, what Black History Month means to them, and how everyone in the community can be celebrating and learning.

First, we met with Pamela at Bessie Carmichael Middle School where she shared details of her long history in food service, including nearly 7 years with SNS, and her thorough enjoyment of working to nourish students.

Meet Pamela, an SFUSD Student Nutrition Services (SNS) Dining Staff member of 6 years with a long history in food service and a thorough enjoyment of working to nourish students. Pamela kindly took time out of her busy day at Bessie Carmichael Elementary School to share her thoughts on school food and nutrition and how Black History Month can be celebrated by everyone.

Pamela shared that she enjoys getting to see students come in each day, learn about what meals they prefer, and get to say, “Good morning”, especially when students may not be having a good day. For Pamela, making sure students have access to a hot nutritious meal each day is so important because she recognizes that not all kids have that at home. In her time with SNS, she has also gotten to learn about nutrition and wellness and how she can eat better for herself, she even walks to work now!

For Pamela, Black History Month means family, togetherness, and love. She grew up in a big family that loved to cook, Pamela was a self proclaimed homebody as a child and loved spending time cooking with her mom. She shares their favorite foods in her own words below.

“Me and my mom used to always make barbecue turkey legs with butter rice, cornbread, and green beans. For breakfast we always used to make salmon croquettes, butter rice, and biscuits with jam. Her favorite desserts we always made together were rice pudding, homemade bread pudding, jello or fruit peaches, and handmade sweet potato pies. Whenever we went anywhere though, we always brought a salad. It was always a green salad with red wine vinegar. That was a tradition in our house.”

Food is more than fuel for the day, it has the power to create lasting memories and bring togetherness across communities and generations. Pamela hopes that during Black History Month, everyone chooses to honor themselves, celebrate the accomplishments of the Black community throughout not only San Francisco but the entire country, and know their power the way she knows hers!

#blackhistorymonth #studentnutrition #sfusd #foodculture #family #students #community

Meet Cynthia! Her three decades of dedication with Student Nutrition Services (SNS) serves as a shining example of what it means to truly nourish your community. Cynthia’s tenure has taken her to every grade level, working at a multitude of schools, and getting to watch generations of students grow, graduate, and move forward. Here two biggest lessons to share are 1. “You can win people over with kindness.” 2. “If you treat people how you want to be treated, it will work out.”

Cynthia thinks of Black History Month as a time to take a moment with her family to share what they’re proud of with their culture, their accomplishments, and themselves. “Soul food, to my family, was comfort food. It let us come together, to break bread together.” Cynthia even fondly reminisced on her grandmother always reminding her that she matters, no matter what.

She also invites everyone to take part in sharing their experiences because while we can’t walk in each other’s shoes, we can still learn about each other’s experiences and how they impacted us as individuals.

As we spoke with Cynthia, it was clear that her family’s personal food culture was passed down from generation to generation, as well as their familial experiences, stories, advice, and other traditions. Cynthia emphasized the importance of storytelling with the next generation because much of our collective histories can become lost to history without the ongoing preservation of storytelling. She embodies what it means to cultivate community as she continues to nourish SFUSD students each day through good food and connection.

Join us in celebrating Black History Month with Cynthia and thanking her for her years of service!
#blackhistorymonth #family #dedication #schoolfood #soulfood #community

“Black History is something that now in 2024 everybody can celebrate, because the average person has some kind of connection.”

Meet Valerie; a highlight to ring in the end of the month, but not the end of uplifting the voices of our outstanding team of food professionals.

Valerie’s over 20 years of service with Student Nutrition Services, now at Commodore Sloat Elementary, all began because she was sought after by someone from SNS at the time who saw her warm and welcoming demeanor and knew she would make an impact in School Food. Now, Valerie is a seasoned pro who especially takes pride her food presentation, making it neat and inviting for students, and then seeing which meal options they like most. If you ever happen to get to take a look into Valerie’s day to day role, you’ll see that she’s efficient, hard working, and a positive impact in her school community!

When it comes to Black History Month, Valerie shared, “the kids need to understand the history of people that they may not be communicating with yet…if they learn year after year, then they familiarize themselves with another culture. And it's easier for them to communicate.”

For Valerie, she enjoys celebrating Black History Month with her family and out in her community. She recently attended an event at the California Academy of Sciences where the keynote speakers were members of the Black Panther Party founded in Oakland who launched the first ever free school breakfast program. Valerie explained, “They [the Black Panther Party] took it upon themselves to say, you know, we're going to start giving this free food out for these kids. Somebody's got to jump in and fund this and make this available…That was beautiful.”

Student Nutrition Services is proud to have dining staff members like Valerie who take pride in their work, understand the importance of food access, and care about their community. Join us in celebrating Valerie’s work and Black History Month!
#blackhistorymonth #community #studentnutrition #schoolbreakfast #upliftingblackvoices #womeninfoodservice

“Black History is something that now in 2024 everybody can celebrate, because the average person has some kind of connection.”

Meet Valerie; a highlight to ring in the end of the month, but not the end of uplifting the voices of our outstanding team of food professionals.

Valerie’s over 20 years of service with Student Nutrition Services, now at Commodore Sloat Elementary, all began because she was sought after by someone from SNS at the time who saw her warm and welcoming demeanor and knew she would make an impact in School Food. Now, Valerie is a seasoned pro who especially takes pride her food presentation, making it neat and inviting for students, and then seeing which meal options they like most. If you ever happen to get to take a look into Valerie’s day to day role, you’ll see that she’s efficient, hard working, and a positive impact in her school community!

When it comes to Black History Month, Valerie shared, “the kids need to understand the history of people that they may not be communicating with yet…if they learn year after year, then they familiarize themselves with another culture. And it's easier for them to communicate.”

For Valerie, she enjoys celebrating Black History Month with her family and out in her community. She recently attended an event at the California Academy of Sciences where the keynote speakers were members of the Black Panther Party founded in Oakland who launched the first ever free school breakfast program. Valerie explained, “They [the Black Panther Party] took it upon themselves to say, you know, we're going to start giving this free food out for these kids. Somebody's got to jump in and fund this and make this available…That was beautiful.”

Student Nutrition Services is proud to have dining staff members like Valerie who take pride in their work, understand the importance of food access, and care about their community. Join us in celebrating Valerie’s work and Black History Month!
#blackhistorymonth #community #studentnutrition #schoolbreakfast #upliftingblackvoices #womeninfoodservice