I have occasionally alluded to lunches at Noah's Ark
and I thought now would be
a good time to give you the real picture.
During the school year, when
public
schools are in session, the families enrolled here have the opportunity
to
purchase hot
lunches for their children. They receive the menu for each
month
and can pick and choose depending on their child's likes and
dislikes.
They
purchase a sheet of 10 lunch tickets from us and deposit a ticket in
the lunch
ticket box on the days they want to
order a lunch. Regretfully, there
are
occasions when a parent is having a bad day or is distracted and the
lunch ticket
ends up in the tuition box instead of the lunch ticket box or spends
the day in the
parent's coat pocket. We have to call into the Fairview cafeteria by
10:00 the
number of lunches we need each day and we don't empty the tuition box
until
5:00. At least once a month, we have a child standing in the kitchen
doorway
waiting for a lunch that wasn't ordered. We are prepared for these emergencies
and always have
fruit in the fridge, hot dogs and rolls in the freezer
to go with the
Kraft Mac and Cheese. Sometimes the children are happier with
the "I
forgot my
lunch ticket lunch" than with what was on the menu.
Our two preschool classes are located upstairs. These 3, 4 & 5 year
old children come
down the stairs to the kitchen to collect
their lunches and then they
carry them back
upstairs. They are so good at it. We only have a spill once every other
month or so. We
work on their manners and they don't get their lunch with out a thank
you. I was holding
onto one little fellow's plate, waiting for that
thank you which wasn't
forthcoming.
Finally I said to him, "What do you need to say to Miss Jamie?" "I
love you, Miss
Jamie," was his reply. It wasn't what I was expecting, but my heart
overflowed. This
same little fellow who just turned four likes to sneak up and yell
boo
and try to scare us.
Miss Shawn hid behind the door the other day and yelled boo at him. "You
scared the
crap out of me," he
said. I rolled my eyes at him and he asked, "What's
crap, Miss Jamie?" I told him it was what he cleaned up after his
dog when it
went to the bathroom
on someone else's lawn. I suggested he say, "You scared the sillies
out me." He liked that
and we spent
about 5 minutes scaring the sillies out of each other.
Thanks for all you do to support our ministry here at Noah's Ark. We
couldn't do it
without you.