Half an hour before the Snack Shack opens for a home football game, Athletic Food Service President Rick Gallo stands behind the counter, methodically filling water cups, melting cheese for nachos and heating chili to prepare for a long night of hungry spectators. As he fires up the grill, the aroma of hot dogs on the metal grate wafts into the packed bleachers, building anticipation for the kickoff.
The Snack Shack typically has seven or more people working inside or at the barbecue grill, with three or four adults managing the group. Everyone rotates through different sections such as preparing the cheese bags, handling the barbecue and taking orders. While any school-based community can sign up to work at the Snack Shack to fundraise by earning a portion of the profit from sales, the AVID program, a four-year academic support elective for increasing students’ college readiness, frequently runs the show.
Gallo began working at the Snack Shack as an AVID parent four years ago alongside his daughter, senior Maya Gallo. He finds that his childhood expertise in cooking led to his passion for grilling. Despite his role in overseeing the shack during the first football game of the season this year, he attributes most of the credit to Marcia Kearns, who has been running the Snack Shack for 20 years, but was absent at the game.
“She does a lot of prep beforehand; she’s usually running around doing shopping before games, baking potatoes a lot of times, running to get a tri-tip and also cutting up tomatoes and onions. So there’s a lot that happens in the snack shack behind the scenes that Marcia does to get everything prepped and ready to go for game night.”
As a student in AVID 11, junior Savir Malhotra began working in the Snack Shack last year when he was a sophomore in AVID 10. He chose to participate because the funds go towards the annual AVID 12 Los Angeles trip, in which the class tours some of the University of California campuses, including UC Riverside and UCLA, and ends with a Disneyland trip.
Malhotra says working at the service station has not only been beneficial for the AVID program and given him self-satisfaction, but has taught him new skills such as communication, which can be applied to other areas of his life.
“The most memorable experience I had was getting to eat the nachos with all the AVID kids,” Malhotra said. “It was the leftovers, and we just felt so good about ourselves for working throughout the game. Working at the booth has taught me a little bit about how to work in a team, and it’s also helped me grow my speaking skills.”
Junior Katie Hwang also enjoys working at the Snack Shack with her teammates from the Girls Golf team, which participates to cover the expenses of practicing at local golf courses, attending competitions and buying new balls. The team usually plays on the course in small groups of six, and without the Shack, many of the girls wouldn’t get to spend as much time with all their teammates.
“I enjoy getting to hang out with my team because I love them so much,” Hwang said. “Doing team bonding stuff, like the snack shack, we get to hang out with the whole entire team, and not just people who only go on the course and people who practice at different times.”
The sense of community among those who work in the Snack Shack is common among all school teams and communities who volunteer. Malhotra acknowledges that workers gain relationships with customers in addition to the growing bond between volunteers. He believes these moments are the most memorable interactions he takes away from the late nights.
“To me, working at the Snack Shack means that I’m doing something for the community,” Malhotra said. “More deeply, I believe that when you’re working with another person and when you’re helping a customer, face to face, it’s a much more meaningful experience and you can make an impact on people even from the smallest things.”
