The Basic American FAME awards selection committee and Nanci Butler of Affinity for the nomination.
The brokers and manufacturer reps that we work with everyday are our best partners to bring our visions to life. I appreciate all of you for your tireless support
Alliance K12 group and its current and former directors for being not just being great peers but also inspiring leaders. I want to be y’all when I grow up. David Kaplan is an amazing guy.
My wife Leannis for whole heartedly supporting the idea to move 1800 miles and start something wonderful
My superintendent Bill Furbush, himself a son of a lunch lady, for believing in the power to support students and faculty one meal at a time.
My business admin, Christine Vayda, for being not only an amazing boss but a rockstar in her own right. Go team.
My FNS staff and the students of Epping for being willing to accept my wins, forgive my losses, and bear with me as I try out every crazy idea that pops into my head.
Lastly I want to thank Maria Eunice for seeing the opportunity thirteen years ago to bring a chef into K12. It was an amazing thing to be Alachua’s district chef, and it changed my life forever.
We have a duty and a responsibility to not accept what came before simply because it’s familiar or easy. Good enough isn’t good enough, whether that’s the quality of our food and consistency of our service or if it’s the way we interact with one another and our communities. We feed people, often young people, to help build connections and relationships because that’s the power of food and service.
Our industry is so collaborative, a good idea could be in a thousand schools in a week. The love that about us!
I’m honored to have this responsibility and the duty it demands. Thank you for doing what you do to help us all reach every student, the stewards of all our futures.
