We are Here to Serve

Something unusual happened today at school. For the first time during my eight years at ICSV, our lunch caterer called in sick. The catering company told us that they’d deliver the food to us hot so that we wouldn’t have to heat it up, but that there was no one to serve it. Now, we have four different lunch times in order to keep the lines to a minimum. They run from 11:00 until 2:00.

At 11:00, I received a frantic message that the food had arrived, but no one was in the cafeteria to receive it. I quickly put away my work and ran down to the cafeteria. You would not believe what I saw when I got there! The kitchen was packed with about 10 staff members. The facilities team, the office support staff, the elementary principal, and even the finance manager were all there filling bowls of salad and soup and slicing pizza. Whoever thought it was a good idea to serve noodle soup to five year olds should work in a school cafeteria. My job was to wipe up all the spilled soup and noodles from the floor. With everyone chipping in, our smallest students enjoyed a full hot lunch. As I write this, I’m looking at the clock, and there are middle and high school lunches yet to be served. I sure hope they do better with the soup than the little ones did!

Another practice that is special here at ICSV is that our teachers volunteer to cover for each other. No matter how many people we employ as substitute teachers, there always seems to be a need for teachers to find someone to cover their class when they are sick or they have a doctor’s appointment. No other school where I have worked had a staff that was so selfless that they regularly gave up their prep period to fill this need. Our teachers are awesome!

What I saw in that kitchen today and when teachers willingly fill in for others demonstrates what I love the most about ICSV. We are called to serve, just as Jesus came to earth to serve. It doesn’t matter what position we hold at the school; we are all servants that do whatever is necessary to ensure that our kids have their needs met. Today that included filling lunch trays and wiping up spilled food. I hope that the children will remember how we all came together to serve them lunch. Maybe they’ll then “pass it on” to someone else when they see that they can step in to help. Service to others is one of the biblical character traits that we desire to instill in our students.

Because of His Faithfulness,
Dr. Sharon Brobst, Director

“Even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.” Mark 10:45