This School Lunch Hero Day, we’re celebrating 10 people who prove that the cafeteria can be one of the most powerful rooms in a school. From rural Montana to the Inside Passage of Alaska, from Mississippi to Cochiti Pueblo, our honorees were nominated by Newman’s Own Foundation grantee partners for their tireless work nourishing their students every day.
“School nutrition professionals give kids one of the most important school supplies: the healthy food they need to learn. On School Lunch Hero Day, we’re celebrating 10 heroes who go above and beyond to cook up food justice for kids across the country.” –Christina Chauvenet, Child Nutrition Officer, Newman’s Own Foundation
Cochiti Pueblo, New Mexico
Apryl Arquero
Keres Children’s Learning Center
Nominated by Keres Children’s Learning Center, Newman’s Own Foundation grantee partner since 2024
Apryl Arquero brings culture, language, and the land itself into every meal she serves at the Keres Children’s Learning Center. Students participate in the farm to lunch tray experience firsthand through the Mobile Outdoor Classroom. Throughout the year, students grow watermelons, cantaloupe, squash, beans, corn, and green chile—all harvested and brought straight to her kitchen, where children ages 3 to 12 help prepare the meals themselves.
That produce shows up throughout the menu: fruit bowls and green chile breakfast burritos in the morning, sliced melon and squash at lunch, and traditional dishes like vegetable stew with green chile, bean and corn, and blue corn atole. Apryl ties language, food, and culture together by giving food lessons in the Keres language.
Apryl Arquero. Photo courtesy of Keres Children's Learning Center.
California
Dr. Betty Crocker, DrPH, RD, SNS
Lodi Unified School District
Nominated by Chef Ann Foundation, Newman’s Own Foundation grantee partner since 2012
Dr. Betty Crocker loves bringing excitement to school food. She shared, “Sushi is my favorite because it’s how you truly WOW kiddos!” Inspired by food pioneer Chef Ann Cooper (founder of Chef Ann Foundation), she’s spent nearly a decade making scratch cooking and high-quality ingredients the standard in her district—and working at the state level to give districts greater procurement flexibility so they can prioritize quality over cost.
Working in California—the first state to implement Healthy School Meals for All in the 2022-23 school year—gives her a powerful platform to prove what’s possible. She shared, “Food justice [in California] means living in a historic moment where every child receives free breakfast and lunch every school day.”
Photo courtesy of Betty Crocker.
Mississippi
Markitta Jones
Institute of Community Services Head Start & Early Head Start Programs
Nominated by Mississippi Farm to School Network, Newman’s Own Foundation grantee partner since 2024
As Nutrition Director for 20 Head Start and Early Head Start programs across Mississippi, Markitta Jones is a force for food justice at the earliest stages of childhood. Since stepping into the role in 2023, she and her team have engaged more than 100 early childhood educators in professional development focused on child-led gardening and local food sourcing—expanding the reach of Mississippi Farm to School Network’s programs to five times the number of students originally anticipated.
For Markitta, the work is personal. She shared, “Seeing kids get excited about food through taste tests, gardening, and incorporating new items into our menus is so rewarding.”
Photo courtesy of Markitta Jones.
Inside Passage, Alaska
Carlee Johnson McIntosh
Petersburg School District
Nominated by Chef Ann Foundation, Newman’s Own Foundation grantee partner since 2012
Petersburg, Alaska is accessible only by plane or marine vessel, making supply chain and logistics a constant challenge for Food Service Director Carlee Johnson McIntosh. Yet despite those obstacles, Carlee has built a program recognized by the USDA’s Healthy Meals Incentive award for its commitment to scratch and semi-scratch cooking. She has partnered with the Petersburg Indian Association to incorporate local and culturally relevant ingredients like salmon, moose meat, carrots, herring eggs, and kale.
Carlee credits her staff for success in the cafeteria, noting each role is important. She also sees the long term impact of school food, sharing, “Food justice is teaching children that a fueling their body is essential and vital to lifelong health.”
Photo courtesy of Carlee Johnson McIntosh.
Montana
Mabel Mix and Joyce Leatherberry
Hinsdale Public Schools
Nominated by Montana Partnership to End Childhood Hunger (MT‑PECH), Newman’s Own Foundation grantee partner since 2024
In Hinsdale, Montana, a community of just 200 people, sisters Mabel Mix and Joyce Leatherberry have turned the school cafeteria into a place of joy, belonging, and genuine nourishment. Together, they’ve built a scratch-cooking program featuring Montana-grown ingredients alongside beloved homemade staples: chicken pot pie, breakfast burritos, and soups made from potatoes grown in the school garden.
They celebrate food days and school milestones with costumes, decorations, and special menus that make every occasion feel festive. Joyce, who became head cook in 2005, shared her vision for food justice: “When I became the head cook, my goal was that no kid left my lunch room hungry. I wanted to make [the cafeteria] a happy, friendly place, where they could hear laughter and see smiles from us.”
Mabel and Joyce celebrate the 100th day of school. Photo courtesy of Mabel Mix and Joyce Leatherberry.
Oregon
Brynn Richardson
David Douglas School District
Nominated by Oregon Farm to School Network, Newman’s Own Foundation grantee partner since 2022
Five years into her school nutrition career, Brynn Richardson has made cultural relevance a cornerstone of her farm-to-school work in Oregon. She’s focused on ensuring students see their own food traditions reflected in what’s on the menu—including dishes like taro root stir fry and kimchi.
To deepen her practice, she participated in the Oregon Farm to School Institute, a year-long collaborative learning experience convened by the Oregon Farm to School Network that brings together nutrition staff, educators, and community partners to build lasting farm to school programs. She credits the Oregon Farm to School Network community as a vital source of resources and support for the work.
She shared, “Food justice to me means that our students feel a sense of representation from the foods they’re served at school, and having access to foods and lesson plans that help them inform their food choices.”
Brynn Richardson from the David Douglas School District (Oregon.) Photo courtesy of Oregon Farm to School Network.
Arizona
Doran Tauchin, Alec Sandoval, and Dion Holmes
Moencopi Day School
Nominated by Partnership With Native Americans, Newman’s Own Foundation grantee partner since 2024
Doran Tauchin, Alec Sandoval, and Dion Holmes are the dedicated kitchen team at Moencopi Day School, and the recognition keeps rolling in. The trio are part of Partnership With Native Americans’ Indigenous Foodways program for 2026, a newly funded initiative supporting their work to incorporate Hopi, Navajo, and broader Indigenous foods into scratch-made menus planned around a cultural calendar.
Their own Native backgrounds inform every menu they create, and students consistently say they miss the food long after leaving the school. “We’ve shared our love of food with our students, and we really enjoy introducing them to new and different menu items from our local cultures here in Arizona,” the team said. “We make sure to incorporate their feedback into menu planning so they enjoy the food as much as we enjoy making it.”
Photo courtesy of Doran Tauchin, Alec Sandoval, and Dion Holmes.
