On behalf of the California Department of Education Nutrition Services Division, I would like to express my gratitude and appreciation for the school nutrition professionals across the state. Through their extraordinary commitment and hard work, they are nourishing and ensuring our students have access to a healthy school breakfast and lunch each instructional day. California’s school nutrition professionals are at the forefront of increasing scratch cooking and incorporating fresh, locally grown, and even organic ingredients into school meals to ensure students have access to flavorful, nutritious, and culturally relevant foods.
School nutrition professionals are essential to a child’s academic success and overall health and wellbeing. They are truly instrumental to the Move the Needle initiative for student achievement.
I encourage all school administrators, staff, students, and parents to celebrate School Lunch Hero Day on Friday, May 2, 2025. School Lunch Hero Day is an opportunity to recognize and thank your hardworking nutrition professionals. Below are some ideas for how your schools can honor your School Lunch Heroes:
- Be Thankful: Encourage students to create homemade thank you cards, or appreciation notes to share with their favorite school lunch heroes and heroines.
- Get Creative: Celebrate the day by creating posters or banners to display in common areas for all students and teachers to see and enjoy.
- Give Back: Show appreciation by letting students and teachers serve nutrition professionals a well-deserved, scratch-cooked, local, and fresh meal or snack.
- Share a Story: Have students and staff write or record short stories or testimonials about their favorite school lunch heroes, highlighting how these professionals make a difference in their lives. Share these stories with the school community to inspire others.
- Create a Hero Wall: Set up a wall of heroes where students can post photos, notes, or drawings of their favorite school lunch professionals, showing appreciation for all the work they do.
- Host a Special Event: Organize a fun event, such as a lunch with the heroes or a talent show, where school lunch professionals can showcase their talents or be recognized in front of the students and faculty.
For more information, visit the School Nutrition Association’s 2025 School Lunch Hero Day Campaign web page
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Thank you for your continued support of our nutrition professionals and for recognizing their vital contribution to the whole child.
Sincerely,
Kim Frinzell, Division Director
Nutrition Services Division
California Department of Education