HEAD CAFETERIA MANAGER: DEBBIE HERRERA

Herrera misses her comfort zone the most. She misses working with all of her staff — the companionship that she says is only fostered when you share everything with a coworker, from planning menu items to discussing their lives at home.

Each FUHSD high school has six food service workers, and Herrera explains that, because of how their jobs have changed this year, the six members of her staff were split between three sites: Fremont, Homestead and Cupertino High Schools. As opposed to serving students in the MVHS cafeteria, Herrera and all the other food service workers are currently working to execute the FUHSD Free Meal policy taking place at the three aforementioned high schools, where anyone under the age of 18 can pick up a free meal. Currently, Herrera works with a team of 8 at Cupertino HS; they prepare the food each Monday and Tuesday and distribute on Wednesdays from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Herrera says that the meals are packaged using boxes and bags; the boxes contain fruits and vegetables for seven days, while the bags contain a variety of meals, including pasta, grilled cheese sandwiches, burritos and vegetarian options as well.

“We’re serving anywhere between 300 and 330 meals every Wednesday [that is sufficient for a week],” Herrera said. “So that process is not as time-consuming, but it’s more physical work because now we’re working in bulk, so we’re carrying more products in boxes [that are] 50 lbs, 80 lbs, 100 lbs. It’s a lot more physical work than it is mental work. With that being said, there’s eight [staff members], so we pretty much finish all of it.”

Although the Free Meal program was implemented on Sept. 2, Herrera notes that, since then, the number of people picking up meals has expanded, with not only families in the vicinity picking up meals, but also people from as far as Campbell.

“You can tell that these people do need food, they really do,” Herrera said. “It’s anywhere from milk to potatoes, celery, oranges, apples — basically anything that they can have that lasts and is not something that can go bad. So if they don’t eat it within two or three days, it’s still going to be there. It’s food that we’re trying to give that you would buy at the grocery store, but this makes it easier for them.” 

Herrera adds that because she has had to get accustomed to the new staff, leadership is challenging at times, because “when you’re a leader, you’re dealing with different types of personalities, different people — you don’t know them until you talk with them.” 

Since her staff is from multiple high schools, everyone came in with different experiences. Herrera says that, although conflicts arise frequently, she focuses on boosting morale, explaining that “it’s all about speaking to them and letting them know that you’re there for them. They want to come to work because that’s the only time for socialization that they have, so we want to make it the best, but if there’s conflict it just ruins it.”

She emphasizes communication; for instance, she has a meeting every morning where she asks staff how their day is going and asks each person to share a positive in their lives, before asking them what roles they would prefer to work during that particular day. 

“I give them an option, so if they’re not feeling it, then they’re like, ‘OK, I think I’m going to work over here so that way I can just be by myself but I’m doing the job,’” Herrera said. “So every day I have a meeting, that way I can get a feel for their demeanour, their facial expressions, whether they’re in a good mood or whether they’re upset, and if they [are] I’m like, ‘Why don’t we work over here? Let me give you something simple to do and then tomorrow we can work on this.’ The group that I have is very sensitive, and I’ve learned that the hard way. Because my voice is overbearing and they felt like I was yelling, so I had to learn that they’re sensitive people.”

At the same time, Herrera adds that her job is fun as well as gratifying; the team always has music playing and is constantly being thanked. 

“We’ve got everybody out there with four different carts, we’ve got a line coming around CHS,” Herrera said. “And they thank you. And not only that, but during the holidays they brought masks and some of the admin gave gift cards, some parents said we’re going to donate and I think they bought us lunch one day. We get a lot of recognition; that’s what makes us feel good on Wednesdays. We go through this whole process, no matter what type of mood we’re in, how we’re feeling, [and] at the end of the week it’s like, OK Wednesday is the last day, we don’t go back until [the] following Monday, and everybody feels good.”