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Health & Fitness

Parent Volunteers Express Gratitude for SJV Teachers and Staff

Four times a year, parent volunteers at St. John Vianney (SJV) have coordinated teacher luncheons to honor and thank the SJV school and parish staff.

By K. Adamson

Four times a year, parent volunteers at St. John Vianney (SJV) have coordinated teacher luncheons to honor and thank the SJV school and parish staff.

"We entrust our teachers with our children every day. They teach them, care for them, pray with them and help us raise them to be good humans," said Cami Adel, one of the event coordinators. "This luncheon is such a small gesture in comparison to all of their efforts."

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A core group of 10 parents, led by Adel and Amy DiPiazza, volunteer to help shop, set up, prepare food, serve and clean up during the quarterly event that usually hosts between 50-60 teachers and staff. Several additional families supply the food and other items that are part of the event.

Both Adel and DiPiazza have some serious food savvy so the menu might surprise you. Adel has a food science degree form the University of Missouri and DiPiazza developed an early interest in baking while helping her grandmother bake as child.

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Each luncheon has a theme such as "Farmers Market," featuring bourbon glazed pork tenderloin with mustard sauce and a "Fat Tuesday" theme that treated staff to delicacies including pulled chicken and vegetable jambalaya.

This week’s "Fall Harvest" themed luncheon featured scrumptious dishes such as homemade chicken or vegetarian pot pie, roasted green beans, fall green salad with maple dressing and pecans, apply crumble, pumpkin bars, caramel apple pie and spiced cherry cider.

To those of us who are less-kitchen-orientated and think baked chicken breasts with steamed broccoli and rice is a culinary masterpiece, the luncheon may seem like a monumental amount of work — and it is. But "we love to do this for [the teachers and staff]," Adel said.

The luncheon provides an enjoyable, relaxing and delicious break in an otherwise busy day. "I am always so overwhelmed by the generosity bestowed upon us with our teacher luncheons. The food and fellowship always seem to hit the spot," said Jill Fischer, the Assistant Principal and a Language Arts and Religion teacher at SJV.

"I feel very blessed to have such a strong Home and School Association here at SJV," added SJV’s Spanish teacher Linda Moss. "I appreciate that our school’s parents continue to provide us with their time, talent and support."

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