All Praise to the Lunch Ladies

Summary

Today, my grandmother’s town of Blue Ridge is surrounded by million-dollar vacation homes, its downtown sidewalks lined with art galleries and outfitters selling $6,000 bamboo fly rods. The economic disparity between visitors and full-time residents is vast. Fannin County schools qualify for the Community Eligibility Provision, which allows free meals for all — at least for now. Martha Williams, who works as director of nutrition and wellness in Fannin County School District, grew up here and originally returned to teach math. But a cafeteria lunch lady inspired Williams to work in school nutrition when she pulled the teacher aside and pointed out a student who seemed disheveled and kept wearing the same clothes. Williams recognized the insights that can be gleaned from the serving line and how the work goes beyond keeping kids fed to providing stability, routine, and community care. Williams points to another inspiration, GiGi Thomas, 63, who has worked in school food service for more than two decades. These days one of her duties is serving cookies, kept in an ancient warmer that “probably came over on the Mayflower,” Thomas says with a laugh. She hands students freshly baked cookies on napkins. “I see these kids every day,” she says. Some of them like chocolate chip cookies, others prefer sugar cookies. “It tickles them to death that I kind of remember what they get.” In 2023, her cookies were featured in the high school seniors’ graduation video. “If you don’t have the cookies, those kids are devastated,” Thomas says. “That’s all you wanna do is take care of the kids.” Over in West Tennessee, Seiber-Garland says she sometimes feels like she has 1,400 kids of her own. If no one shows up for a student on grandparents’ day, she fills in. And she loves running into students outside school, where they’re excited to say, “There’s my lunch lady!” Alumni sometimes share photos of their kids. “They’re so special. Every one of them.” Over her 22 years in the business, Sei...