ST. JOSEPH — When fourth-graders at St. Joseph Grade School presented their principal with a contract drafted on notebook paper, they required she actually sign it.
Verbal confirmation wasn’t enough for this important request to designate April 10 “Lunch Worker Appreciation Day.”
“We felt that lunch workers weren’t getting appreciated enough,” said student Will Gallow.
Gallow, Maddox May, Ellery Gill and Charlotte Kerner are all members of this year’s fourth-grade Kindness Crew.
They were drafted to the crew by teacher Mindy James in early November.
“The really kind people in our class, she basically just puts them in this group and then we make stuff for the district and then we go to the different schools and we give out goodies, drinks, stuff like that,” May said.
Their first project was a celebration of Veterans Day, which included a mini play depicting a class learning about the holiday.
Veterans and other family members of St. Joseph students were invited to the school, and the kids handed out Lifesaver candies.
Thanksgiving was the perfect time to thank teachers, and spring break was a good reason to hand out goodies to all 400 of their classmates.
“A lot of work went into that. Decorating the bags, getting the stuff, putting it in,” May said.
“We also had a couple more because we kind of screwed up …” Gill added.
But there was still one group getting left out of these projects: the lunch workers.
“I’ve been in this school for five years getting lunch from the cafeteria and I’ve never seen a single person say, ‘Thank you for making my lunch,’” Gallow said.
All of the Kindness Crew kids started saying “thank you” to the lunch workers once they noticed this trend, but that was only the first step.
Next was petitioning Principal Michelle Wagner, whose signature made Lunch Worker Appreciation Day a reality, then preparing for the day itself.
They’ll be serving the lunch workers pizza and dessert, as well as decorating the lunch room with pictures of the lunch ladies as superheroes.
All four kids agreed that putting this event together has been a lot of hard work — especially painting the big “We Appreciate You!” banner they’re planning to hang up.
“The entire day of yesterday ... we were painting it,” Gallow said. “I drew out the letters and did the 3-D effect, and we all worked together to paint it. It was just a lot of work.”
They also worked together to make sure that the rest of the school would be prepared for this special day, crafting a script for Wagner to read at an assembly.
“From now on, every year we will have an annual Lunch Worker Appreciation Day,” it reads. “Let’s give a round of applause to our hard working staff in the lunchroom!”