The national, non-profit School Nutrition Association (SNA) has named Dawn Lewis, M.Ed.L, School Nutrition Director for Coffee County School System, the Southeast region Director of the Year. The award recognizes the extraordinary contributions of school nutrition directors who manage effective school meal programs providing healthy, appetizing meals to students.
Dawn Lewis is credited with revamping her district’s food service program. When she started as director, the program was close to operating in the red and hampered by outdated equipment. They now operate with a fund balance, and she has developed an equipment replacement plan and implemented a new software program to increase efficiencies in food and supply inventory and weekly ordering. She continues to improve the quality of food purchased and studies food waste to determine what needs to be improved or removed from the menu.
Lewis works with teachers and principals to write and secure grants. As a result, three schools have school gardens, one school has a fruit tree grove, and students were able to plant fruit trees at nine elementary schools. She also works with volunteer organizations to build school gardens at all district schools and with the Career, Technical, and Agricultural Education department to develop a plan for a hydroponic farm at a county high school. Harvest from gardens is prepared by staff and students and served at the schools.
A champion of locally grown and farm-to-school efforts, Lewis works directly with farmers and manufacturers to secure items grown and/or processed within the community. She also partnered with several nonprofit organizations, including local food banks and childhood cancer organizations, to promote their causes along with important school nutrition issues.
Lewis focuses on creative staffing solutions and developed partnerships to fill the gaps during staffing shortages. As part of this effort, she partners with a national work training program called “Project Search” for people with disabilities and developed a partnership with a work-based learning program to employ high school students seeking future careers in the food service industry.
Lewis launched an incentive program for staff, encouraging efforts to increase student participation in meal programs. Since Lewis started the program, meal participation has remained high and the district superintendent has used the program as an example, sharing the tools for other superintendents to implement.
“Dawn is an incredible ambassador for school nutrition and has worked tirelessly to ensure her team has the resources, training and inspiration to improve school menus and services for students,” said Chris Derico, SNS, School Nutrition Association President.
Lewis focuses extra creative efforts on staff training, with 80-100 employees participating in annual training topics such as food safety, basic kitchen skills, preparing new recipes, garnishes, serving line appearance and portion control.
Lewis is very active in Georgia SNA, serving on the Executive Board for 13 years. She stresses the importance of SNA membership and supports employees’ and managers’ professional development through participation in state and national events.
The Director of the Year Award was created to recognize school nutrition directors who exhibit an extraordinary commitment to their school meal programs. The directors are responsible for maintaining the quality of the program through student interaction, menu planning and a commitment to serving nutritious, tasty and well-balanced school meals. Through effective oversight of all aspects of food service operations, including budgeting, staffing, training, marketing and community outreach, school nutrition directors ensure the overall success of school meal programs.
Lewis was announced as the Southeast region Director of the Year during an online awards ceremony on April 30 in advance of School Lunch Hero Day, celebrated on May 3, 2024, to honor all of America’s dedicated school nutrition professionals. The accomplishments of Lewis and all SNA award winners will also be highlighted in a special digital publication and promoted in SNA’s annual Hero Day social media campaign on Facebook.com/TrayTalk and TrayTalk.org.