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RRPS Thanksgiving lunches have begun! First up, Sandia Vista
RIO RANCHO — Rio Rancho Public Schools began its annual tradition of serving Thanksgiving lunches to students and their communities. The first school to sling turkey was Sandia Vista Elementary School Nov. 1.
“It’s a good chance for them to come back into the school and have a really good meal and spend some quality time with their kids at school,” said SVE principal Kirk Desoto, who’s been in education for 16 years and at SVE for three.
According to Desoto, around 1,300 people were served at the Thanksgiving lunch, which was the day after Halloween.
“So, in the back of my mind a year ago, I thought, ‘Oh, it’d be a great day, it’s Friday, it’ll be fine.’ Didn’t even cross my mind that Halloween was the day before. It’s just those things that you live and learn,” Desoto joked. “It really starts with our cafeteria crew. They’re a great team, and they work really hard together and were here very early starting this lunch.”
It’s a collective effort that starts with the Southwest Foodservice Excellence company (SFE) cafeteria crews, custodians and the many Sandia Vista staff members who volunteer to help.
“Anybody and everyone in the building — that doesn’t have kids with them — they step up and they help in the cafeteria, they help in the serving lines, and they do what they need to do to make sure families have a good time,” Desoto said.
The person who orchestrated all preparation of food was SFE kitchen manager Tina Sanchez. Sanchez’s assigned school is SVE, and she has been working at SFE for 10 years (second year at SVE).
“It’s a lot of work, but we are so happy to do it,” Sanchez said. “We’ve been working all week, planning and prepping and all of that. It takes a lot. It takes a lot of extra people.”
With the help of her cafeteria crew of five — and volunteers — Sanchez served seven different grade levels (also pre-k) from 10:40 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Part of Sanchez’s crew included head cook Veronica Herrera, Patricia Miranda, Maria Teresa, Garcia Flores and Karen Matz.
“Usually the planning starts two months in advance. So, it takes us two months to make sure we get all of the food in on time,” SFE assistant general manager Linda Valdez said. “We have got an amazing crew throughout the district, and here at Sandia Vista is one of our best crews that we have. Everything went out without a hitch. It was beautiful.”
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Items on the Thanksgiving lunch menu included roasted turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, green bean casserole, honey butter wheat rolls, cranberry sauce, stuffing and pumpkin pie (formerly “pumpkin spice cake”) with whipped cream.
“This is my favorite meal of the whole year,” parent Marissa Pino said. “It is such a fun way to kick off the holiday season.”
If you would like to attend your child’s Thanksgiving lunch, reach out to your school’s administration or check the school website for details.
