After 30 Years of Service, Hunt Says Goodbye
After serving the school system for 30 incredible years, Elaine Hunt, Child Nutrition Services senior director, said goodbye Friday, May 28, 2004. Hunt's strong commitment to staff, training and technology helped raise Wake County's nutrition program to a model statewide.
Her love and passion for the job brought results, as witnessed by Hunt winning the prestigious Mary Long Beasley Distinguished Service Award last June. The North Carolina School Food Service Association selected her for factors such as managing an annual budget of approximately $30 million, implementing a managers training program, establishing a training specialist position and adding point-of-sale software in cafeterias.
Within NCSFSA, Hunt served as secretary, chair and committee member of member services, president-elect, president, and chaired the group's advisory council for two years.
Hunt still considers the experience humbling. "This honor is only possible because of the high caliber people I work with," said Hunt. "We all work closely together, and with this much talent it's hard not to be successful."
Doing What She Loves
"This is an easy job to love," said Hunt. Training, the part of her job she loves the most, is also part of her legacy. She "gave birth" to the first training program for child nutrition managers in the state. "Every manager participated in the program, whether they had gone through training elsewhere or not," said Hunt. "Afterward, they were always amazed at how meaningful and relevant it was."
To emphasize the importance of customer service, Hunt tells classes about the time her daughter, Heather, wanted to carry her lunch to kindergarten. "I thought, doesn't she know what I do?" said Hunt. "Heather said the cafeteria lady is mean and always yells for us to get our money out.
"What I considered being efficient - we told our employees to keep the serving lines moving - my six-year-old considered mean," said Hunt. "I learned an important lesson in customer service that day: If you're not nice to your customers, they won't buy your product. And, if no one buys your product, you go out of business."
Commitment to Technology
With her leadership, the department achieved significant technological advancements. When she first arrived, cafeteria staff collected lunch money in different colored soup bowls - yellow for lunch, blue for milk and red for a la carte items. From there, they progressed to three-tiered tabulators, to cash registers to computers with point-of-sale software.
Realizing that good supervisors aren't necessarily good instructors, Hunt saw the need for someone out in the schools who could help train cafeteria employees on the software. Acting on that vision, she established a training specialist position, another first in the state, to aid area supervisors open new schools and provide one-on-one assistance wherever needed. Hunt's goal to have one specialist for every area supervisor was realized June 1, 2004.
Child Nutrition employees weren't the only ones reaping the benefits of Hunt's commitment to technology. The department began offering the AutoPay Lunch Money Program to parents in 2001, and by 2002, the automatically recurring plan was available online. In fall 2003, CNS added a weekly, one-time payment option online as well. (Of course, CNS is the first district in the state to offer these convenient payment plans.)
A Natural
Growing up on a farm in Henderson, NC, Hunt was quite active in 4-H, and at 12-years-old even won a state-level award for her cornmeal muffins. Part of the honor included a televised cooking demonstration.
While standing on a Coke crate, the host asked her how long to mix the dry and wet ingredients. Hunt had no idea. She thought for a second, then replied: "You blend them till they're blended."
Starting Out
Although Raleigh City Schools hired her as a food buyer in 1974, Hunt spent the first couple days riding a delivery truck. Her boss forgot Hunt's start date and went out of town. Since no one knew who she was or what she was supposed to do, they decided she should ride in a delivery truck and learn where the schools were located.
"I left Rex Hospital, which I loved, for a place that forgot I was coming," she mused.
After the merger with Wake County Schools, Hunt became an area supervisor for Knightdale and Zebulon schools. By the early 1980s, Hunt's job included more management functions, and she helped the department gain consistency in handling personnel matters.
In 1989, after attending three years of night classes at Meredith College, Hunt achieved something she had always wanted - her master's of business administration. When she married Tim, they were both in undergraduate school; she majored in home economics and minored in chemistry at Western Carolina. After he went to graduate school, it was time for their two children to enroll, or so it seemed.
When Hunt earned her MBA, she was also promoted to assistant director, and served in that role until January 1997 when she became a director. On her first day in the new position, she arrived to find a bouquet of flowers and a card awaiting her. The card read: "To the best Child Nutrition director in the whole country. Love Eric and Heather."
Future Plans
With such a supportive, loving family, it's no surprise that Hunt wants to spend more time with them. After vacationing with her husband at their time-share in Cancun, she will play with their two grandchildren. Their son, Eric, has two young boys, Dane and Landon.
Elaine will also help their daughter prepare for her first child, due July 2. According to the family, the pregnancy is a double blessing. "They were worried about me," said Elaine. "Heather said: ÔAfter going 100 miles per hour for so long, you can't just stop and do nothing.'"
Tim, a senior chemist for Bayer, retired last June. Although he and Elaine have had a house at Oak Island for more than 19 years, she says they've never been there as long as they wanted to. "I want to sit on the screened-in porch until I'm tired of the view," said Elaine. She also wants to make stained glass and baskets, two of her favorite hobbies.
While her official retirement date was January 9, Elaine contracted with WCPSS until May 28. Eventually, she'll probably do contract work on training modules for the Department of Public Instruction.
Words to Live By
Before leaving, Hunt shared some advice with Marilyn Moody, the new CNS director. "Be firm, be fair and be consistent," said Hunt. "If you live by these words, you'll always have people's respect - maybe not their love - but you'll have their respect."
In Elaine Hunt's case, she earned both.