Delaware City Schools’ now-retired Food Service Director Sally Rathje stands in front of a food refrigerator at Willis Education Center on Aug. 31, her final day with the district.
Glenn Battishill | The Gazette
After 22 years of overseeing food service at Delaware City Schools, Sally Rathje has worked her last day for the district, but she plans to continue to serve others in the future.
Rathje was serving as the food service supervisor for Grant Memorial and Riverside Methodist hospitals in 2001 when she was recommended the job at Delaware City Schools. Rathje started on Oct. 1, 2001 and worked her last day for the district on Aug. 31.
“It’s been a wonderful, wonderful experience,” Rathje said at Willis Education Center on her final day on the job. “I really enjoyed my job. Twenty-two years … when (you) stay that long it must be a good place to work.”
As the director of food service for the district, Rathje took part in several school health initiatives, including “The Power of Healthy Choice” program with the Delaware Public Health District that encouraged students to eat healthy; the “5321 All Most None” program that promoted health and wellness using technology; partnering with Andrew’s House of Delaware to enhance the Summer Feeding Program; a grant from General Mills that improved walking trails in the Dempsey wetlands area; and the “Let’s Move” campaign led by Michelle Obama to combat childhood obesity.
Rathje said she felt her job was important because she was able to help children establish healthy eating habits.
“We serve education every day,” Rathje said. “Your job is very important. It sets a message later in life about how healthy eating is extremely important. The Power of Healthy Choices was all about how you have the power of choices of what you make. Not just food, but everything you do in life.”
Rathje said she’s very thankful for the opportunities she had to travel to Washington D.C. to speak to lawmakers about the importance of healthy eating for students.
“(When you) look at school nutrition, you can make a difference,” she said. “You can serve education every day so that when they go out into the world, they can choose healthy. Nutrition does help stop long-term diseases. It does start with a healthy diet. You need to advocate for healthy eating all the way through. … By the time they become a senior, they are pretty much set.”
Rathje said she’s proud to have been named the Ohio Association of School Business Officials Food Service Director of the Year in 2020 and said food service director is “a year round job.”
“People think of a food service director (and say), ‘What do you do in the summer time?’” Rathje said. “They don’t realize how much financial paperwork there is, how many programs there are to work with, things to help get ready for the staff and students in the summer time. It’s a tremendous amount of work.”
Jerry Stewart, the executive director of human and material resources for Delaware City Schools, said Tuesday the district appreciated “the passion she brought to her position and her commitment to provide better quality food offerings to our students each day.”
“During her tenure with Delaware City Schools, Sally was instrumental in forging community partnerships to enhance the food and nutrition offerings to students and the community,” Stewart said. “Sally was a driving force in establishing the summer lunch program which serves thousands of meals each summer as well as the healthy kids campaign to increase students’ exposure to fruits and vegetables.”
Rathje said she is retiring due to age and hopes her legacy at the district is helping kids understand that they do have the choice to eat healthy.
“I totally believe in the choice that people make,” Rathje said. “What kept me here so long was that strong drive and commitment to teach healthy eating. I’m in the right place with the right set of people to make it happen. They do have the power to help kids. … All in all, it’s just a joy to work with not only the food service staff but the administrators, the teachers, and the administrative assistant. A lot of kudos to them. I worked with all the secretaries for all the buildings.
“Kudos to the hardworking staff that work so hard to do the right thing for the students of our community. It’s just a overwhelming feeling that people care so much. They really care about our students. It’s really evident and that’s what kept me here. It’s what made it so hard to leave.”
Rathje said she was touched by the Delaware community’s compassion for each other and said at the end of the school year parents of graduated seniors with lunch credits on their account can get a refund, transfer the credits to a sibling or donate to the district’s children in need fund. Rathje said she was touched by how often parents chose the latter.
“The community parents care about each other. … I’m very proud to say I work here,” Rathje said. “(That is) because of the people. … Delaware County has a lot of really wonderful people who care about different programs, the students … they have a very big heart for people in general and that’s what kept me going. It’s just been an incredible, incredible experience.”
Rathje said she will miss her staff during her retirement and thinks of them as family.
“I’ve hired all my cook/cashiers,” Rathje said. “When you work with someone for over 20 years, you learn to love them like family. They are part of my life. They are part of my family, and they always will be. I’ll take that with me forever. … I tell my staff it doesn’t matter what work you do, it’s very important that you love what you do and that you take good care of the people and the staff and students. You’re not in this alone. You can’t do it by yourself. It takes all of us to be a team. … I’m going to miss the people that I worked with.”
Looking ahead, Rathje said she doesn’t have a plan for what she’ll do next.
“I’ll just have to wait and see where God leads me,” she said. “I love people. I love being with people. I can’t be by myself so whatever I do — volunteer work or subbing — I just want to make a difference in other people’s lives.”
Michelle Thieret was hired as the district’s new director of food service over the summer, and Rathje said she’s leaving the district “in good hands.”
“I wanted young blood and fresh eyes,” Rathje said. “She’s going to do a wonderful job. I will leave with peace and joy in my heart knowing the new food service director will take care of the staff and the students and carry on the legacy. I feel good about that.”
Glenn Battishill can be reached at 740-413-0903.
