Due to a lack of sufficient volunteers and staff members, Anita Martin’s Culinary Arts Prep classes donated their class time to help the Henry Middle School cafeteria staff serve Thanksgiving lunch to the students and parents on Tuesday, Nov. 18.

“We all helped in shifts,” junior Maddi Wyatt said. “We came during our class period and left when the next one got there.”

When the middle school realized they wouldn’t have enough help for the event, Randy, the head of the cafeteria staff, called the school to request help and was given Mrs. Martin’s name.

“They didn’t have enough volunteers, and they knew they wouldn’t have enough people to serve all the students and parents,” Martin said. “I told them my classes and I could help out.”

While the classes did their part in helping the event run smoothly, the experience ended up benefiting not only the middle school, but also the students and their understanding of their culinary class.

“It helped them see a real kitchen in action and also better understand the importance of safety and sanitation,” Martin said. “There’s so many moving parts in a kitchen that you have to make sure everyone is safe. This is something we’ve been discussing in class, and now they saw it in action.”

With the hundreds of students and parents that came to eat over the course of three consecutive lunches, the volunteers had their work cut out for them both in the kitchen where the students made more than 700 pounds of potatoes and in the cafeteria where things needed to be cleaned and fixed between each lunch.

“[The cafeteria staff] work so hard, harder than I thought they did,” Wyatt said. “It was so busy and they had to serve three lunches full of students and parents, it was crazy. I had no idea how much food was needed to feed all of those people.”

Overall, the event was successful and the staff along with the help of the volunteers were able to continue this holiday tradition.

“The best part was seeing all the kids and parents happy and enjoying the meal,” Wyatt said. “It was nice to contribute to that, even just a little bit.”