MSD to begin serving lunch and breakfast for first time

MULLAN — For 128 years, the students of the Mullan School District (MSD) had the ability to come and go as they pleased when it came to lunch.

Not because they were not allowed to stay in the school, but simply because the school did not have the ability to provide another option.

But things are about to change in Mullan.

Beginning on Monday, Nov. 6, the students will have the option to eat breakfast and lunch in the school cafeteria now that the school has a brand new kitchen and hot lunch program.

The program was the brainchild of Mullan High School English teacher and hot lunch project coordinator, Jackie Gorshe-Almquist, who began working on the project during the last school year.

“I noticed that we didn’t have a program last year and asked Don Kotschevar why we didn’t have a program already, he was brand new as principal, so he told me if I wanted to work on it then go for it,” Gorshe-Almquist said. “I began making some calls to Boise to get an idea of what was needed, then I put together a proposal and took it to the school board, who gave us the green light.”

From the school board perspective, this was a big step simply because starting a hot lunch program can be difficult.

Sustaining one over the years though can be even more of a challenge.

“We gave the project a soft green light,” Mullan School Board chairman Mike Summerkamp said. “After our first meeting concerning this we decided to give it a go, but we all assumed it wouldn’t be this year. But you gotta give Jackie credit, she is a teacher who took this on and went above her required work to make this happen.”

Through several funding processes, the $80,000 project began to come together, but the project seemed to grow more than what they initially expected.

“Earlier this year we received $9,000 from the Hecla Charitable Foundation, but as the project grew we knew we needed more funding and they were kind enough to give us the this $18,500 on top of that,” MSD clerk Cathy Anderson said. “What is nice about this money from Hecla is that we can use it wherever we need it. Other sources of funding are specifically earmarked for specific purposes, which we appreciate, but when it comes to things like construction costs, supplementing salaries, and other non-specific costs this money is so helpful and we are so thankful for Hecla and their continued investment in this school and in this community.”

As mentioned before, the money can supplement salaries, which was important because running a kitchen for an entire school district has created one full time position and a part time position.

Lisa Hileman has taken on the responsibility of being Mullan’s food services director and kitchen manager, a job that is essentially the nerve center or the entire program.

Hileman planned out the menu, determining what foods to order and how much, and the daunting task of making sure they are in complete compliance with the current national standards for nutrition.

“Whenever the nutrition standards change, existing program have a certain amount of time to get into compliance with those standards, some of which are not easy either,” Hileman said. “We as a new hot lunch program have to be in compliance with all of the current standards right out of the gate.”

Hileman’s nutrition plan is quite important, because it could be the key to keeping the program from being a burden on the district and community.

“After the state inspectors come and see that we are in compliance, we are then eligible for reimbursement per child who eats per meal,” Hileman said. “That puts more money back into our pockets as a district which will pay for different foods, utilities, maintenance and replacement of equipment, and other things like that.”

MSD looked into beginning a hot lunch program in the past, but the funding wasn’t there.

“A few years ago there wasn’t a single lunch program in the state that was paying for itself,” Anderson said. “But now with different federal and state funding outlets we have been able to get this to a point where the state will cover 85 percent of the cost of the program and the district will only be liable for about 15 percent of the yearly cost of running the hot lunch program.”

The first year of the hot lunch program will be free for all students in the district.

The group would like to thank the Hecla Charitable Foundation for funding $27,500 of the project and would like to thank Building Maintenance, the Gyro Club, the Mullan Community Foundation, the USDA, and the Idaho Dairy Council for their financial support, as well as a special thank you to Steve Trogden, MSD maintenance manager and his custodial crew for their work on the project.

For more information on the Mullan hot lunch program contact Cathy Anderson at (208) 744-1118.