The Bremen City Schools recently hosted their annual Thanksgiving lunch distribution, providing a festive holiday meal to hundreds of students, staff, and community members across the district. “We do Thanksgiving here big every year; it is a monumental task, but it’s so much fun,” Director of School Nutrition Jessica Peaden said. “The kids really love the Thanksgiving lunch. They look forward to it, and pretty much every school wants to have a vote on who’s dressing is the best.”
The district brought professional chefs, including Chef Bruce Marlette and Chef Jesse Minton, to work alongside the school nutrition teams and community member Marvin Morris to elevate the event. This allowed them to provide high-quality, restaurant-caliber meals to the students.
“We were lucky enough to be able to bring those in, as at Jones, we had 140 extra parents come in to eat with their students,” Peaden said. “So that’s amazing, too, that we were able to showcase everything for them and their parents and grandparents that came in.”
Preparing for an event of this magnitude is no easy task. The school nutrition team predicted and prepped for nearly 800 meals at Jones Elementary, about 500 at Bremen High School, and approximately 650 at Bremen Middle School and Academy. “Forecasting is not an easy thing. In school nutrition, you never really know,” Peaden said. “You never know how many teachers are going to eat. That is the biggest day of the year. Usually, all staff members want a plate and all the students. That is their favorite thing.” Despite the challenges, the school nutrition staff rose to the occasion, working tirelessly to provide every student and staff member with a delicious Thanksgiving meal.
The students noted their dedication and positive attitudes, with one young boy, Parker Pullen, even going so far as to write a heartfelt letter of gratitude to the “lunch ladies.”
“It was just saying that he was thankful for them. He was thankful for them, and it made them cry,” Peaden said. “It’s a small act like that that could truly change the entire day for, you know, school nutrition, and so for him to come in and deliver a letter out of anybody in the school that he could be thankful for, he was thankful for the lunch ladies, and he was thankful for all that they do for him.”
The Thanksgiving lunch program is a long-standing tradition in the Bremen City Schools, aligning with the district’s commitment to excellence in school nutrition. The district has won the state’s “Tray of the Week” award four times, a testament to the quality and presentation of the meals served. As the holiday season approaches, the Bremen City Schools community can look forward to more festive celebrations and delicious meals the dedicated school nutrition team prepares with care.
