For more than two decades, Carrie Bonacci fed Liverpool’s children.
Now she’s leaving that job to someone else.
Last week, the Liverpool Central School District’s longtime food services director retired after 23 years with the district. After building the program from the ground up, she said she’s sorry to leave it behind.
“It’s been a wonderful ride for me,” Bonacci said. “It’ll definitely be bittersweet to leave.”
Bonacci came on board in 1993 under then-Superintendent John Cataldo, who wanted her to restart the hot lunch program the district had discontinued in 1974. Several of the district’s buildings had been constructed after that and didn’t even have kitchens in which lunches could be made.
“We had to really develop kitchens in all of the buildings except five, build them from the ground up.” Bonacci said. “We were going to phase it in over three years.”
That timeline changed, however, when the area’s state assemblyman at the time, Michael Bragman, offered the district a grant of $140,000 to assist with the project. That meant instead of three years, Liverpool only had nine or 10 months to hire all new staff, build kitchens in all of its buildings and develop a whole new program.
“It was a whirlwind,” Bonacci said. “It was life-changing for me.”
Bonacci lived up to the challenge, opening five new kitchens that year. By the end of the year, the program was fully functional districtwide, much to Bonacci’s delight — and that of parents across Liverpool.
“It’s funny — I remember getting calls and even flowers from parents back then, saying, ‘I don’t have to run to the store at 11 p.m. to get bread,’” Bonacci recalled.
Since then, the food services program has only continued to grow. In 1995, the district added hot breakfast, then signed up as a USDA Summer Lunch Program site in 1996. In the last few years, Liverpool has made hot breakfast available for free to all of its students; that started with a grant at Chestnut Hill Elementary in the mid-1990s and went districtwide last year. Bonacci has also overseen the addition of several unique features to the high school cafeteria, including a breakfast vending machine and the Poolside Kiosk, a lunch option that offers sushi, salads, paninis, burritos, egg rolls and more in addition to the traditional fare.
Bonacci counts universal breakfast as her biggest accomplishment.
“That was really on my to-do list before I retired,” she said. “I can walk away knowing that kids have at least one meal they don’t have to pay for, if they want that. They don’t have to worry about having money in their pockets.”
Bonacci said it’s imperative that the district provide at least that one meal, as the demographics have changed drastically in the district during her tenure.
“Anybody who doesn’t think we have hungry kids in this district has their heads stuck in the sand,” she said. “I’ve seen the need increase over the years. We make sure there’s no stigma. If they want breakfast, no questions asked, they can get it and go on about their day. Some kids, they go home and don’t have another solid meal. That’s their reality, for whatever the reason. They come in in the morning and they’re very hungry. We see an increase [in the number of kids getting free breakfast] on Monday mornings, and we see an increase all the time after holidays and time off. We have hungry kids. That’s how it is.”
While she said she’d love to see the district provide lunch free to all of its students, as well, Bonacci said the old adage remains true.
“Breakfast is the most important meal of the day,” she said. “Kids can’t learn if they’re hungry. I’ve seen it so many times.”
Though she’s leaving Liverpool behind for warmer climes — Bonacci is heading to Arizona to be with family — Bonacci thinks she’ll likely stay involved in the food service business somehow.
“Maybe I’ll be a lunch lady out there, who knows?” she said. “I’m sure I’m going to keep my hands in it in other ways.”
No matter what she ends up doing, she’s proud of the program and the people she’s leaving behind.
“Food service workers are some of the most dedicated workers you’ll ever find. They do it because they really love kids,” Bonacci said. “My department wouldn’t have been as good as it was if I didn’t have such great workers. I’ve been lucky. I’ve had great backing, great support, great people.”
But Bonacci said it was one thing that really got her through the tough times.
“We’re here to serve the kids. It’s important to my department that kids are number one. That’s always how it’s been,” she said. “If you have great love for the kids, anything can be done.”
