It’s 11:55 a.m., and kindergartners flood the lunch line at Dillingham Elementary School. Today’s menu: homemade spaghetti, green beans, peaches, and—for the first time —a salad bar.
The line slows as students crane their necks, curiously eyeing bowls filled with fresh lettuce, carrots, broccoli, onions, mushrooms, tomatoes, and three types of bell peppers. Most children accept a salad, selecting toppings to build their own healthy creations.
The new salad bar is part of the Chef Ann Foundation’s “Get Schools Cooking” grant, awarded to the district in 2022. The foundation is a national nonprofit that helps schools switch from processed, heat-and-serve meals to scratch cooking with fresh ingredients. Dillingham is one of eight schools in the 2023 “Get Schools Cooking" cohort, and the first school in Alaska to receive the grant.
Brandy Dreibelbis, Executive Director of Culinary for the Chef Ann Foundation, was in Dillingham last week to help launch the salad bar.
“We believe that feeding kids better, more wholesome food throughout their school day helps them be more successful in academics and it helps with better mental cognition,” said Dreibelbis. “We see behavior issues go away. We see attendance actually increase. We know there are a lot of school age kids that this might be the only access they do have to a hot meal or to fresh fruits and vegetables so it's so important that we are taking better care of them when we have the opportunity, which is when they are in school."
This is the second year of Dillingham’s three-year grant. The first year, the foundation evaluated the district’s food program in its totality, from food to finance to human relations. The remaining two years are allocated to technical assistance and implementation of improvement recommendations.
Dreibelbis's visit also includes in-person technical assistance for the kitchen staff, such as knife skills and scratch cooking techniques.
Her training as a culinary chef also makes her particularly adept at creating new recipes for the district to make the most of local ingredients.
“You are located here in the salmon capital of the world. So every year at the end of salmon season there is this large donation from the local fisheries and processors of salmon. We have all this salmon we want to serve to our kids, however, our families are kind of rich in salmon,” said Dreibelbis.
The revamped salmon menu includes dishes like baked honey garlic salmon, blackened salmon tacos, a sriracha salmon bowl, salmon chowder, and salmon burgers.
Phil Hulett, the district’s former business manager, applied for the grant back in 2022.
Hulett says access to fresh, healthy options is impactful, especially in a community where many children rely on school meals.
“These kids come in here. They are hungry. If they don't get a good meal then they are going to be hungry throughout the day,” said Hulett. “They're not going to pay attention as well. And if we can make our food the best quality that we can, the best ingredients that we can, we are impacting our community in a big way.”
Now, the district serves at least two scratch-cooked lunches and scratch-cooked breakfasts each week.
Back in the lunchroom, the kids are at their tables with their salad. Those who tried their salad wear stickers reading, “I made a rainbow at the salad bar today,” beneath colorful vegetables.
The Chef Ann Foundation will continue working with the Dillingham School District for another year and a half.
