LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – In her more than 25 years in the food and beverage industry, Heather High-Young traveled all over the nation opening new restaurants, cleaning up older ones and training staff.

But her heart has found a home in the Middletown High School cafeteria, where she was hired as district director of food services last August.

Which is amazing, when considering such matters as salary structure.

“I love it, I love it,” High-Young said of a position in which she oversees the daily feeding of five Middletown and Cobb schools from the Middletown High School kitchen.

“I don’t ever want to go back to restaurants,” she added. “Being able to work with children and the staff here I have a huge sense of accomplishment. A meal is a big part of education.”

One of most important challenges awaiting High-Young will be the operation of a summer breakfast and lunch program primarily for students in the Middletown district who come from families with incomes below the poverty level.

This does not give High-Young any rare distinction. Upper Lake and Clear Lake have larger percentages of students below the poverty line. The two districts, along with Lakeport and Kelseyville, also will operate summer food programs.

Based on the estimates of directors High-Young, Michelle Malm at Kelseyville Unified, Jackie Courtney at Lakeport Unified, Sandy Lopez at Lower Lake Elementary and Melissa Konkel at Upper Lake High School, as many as 1,000 students will be fed by summer programs countywide. Five days a week.

It is not uncommon for directors of these programs to be out-of-pocket to cover operating expenses.

Kelseyville will be serving breakfasts and lunches for something more than 25 years, according to Malm.

Middletown, by contrast, will be serving summertime breakfasts and lunch in its high school cafeteria for the first time in more than a decade.

The incentive for High-Young to trade a high-profile job for the school cafeteria?

“It was the hungry children,” she said. “What would they do over the summer if we didn’t have a food program?”

High-Young said she became acquainted with the need for nourishment for students after making Middletown her home base eight years ago.

“After speaking with the parents and the teachers I learned there’s a lot of people who go hungry. Fifty-two percent of the entire (Middletown) district clear up to the top are below the poverty line,” she said. “That’s not as high as some of the other districts but it’s still high. Fifty-two percent is a big chunk.”

One of High-Young’s first steps was to send students home with a flier asking parents the question that if a summer food program were to be started would they participate? The positive response was overwhelming.

“We have a program where we send students home with food for the weekend for families that don’t have food over the weekend,” said High-Young. “For a lot of our students, the only hot meal they get is here.”

On the Middletown campus, the breakfast and lunch program is calibrated with public pool hours and summer school classes.

County-wise, High-Young and the cafeteria directors of four other school districts (Kelseyville, Konocti, Lakeport and Upper Lake) work together.

“The five district directors have a board meeting once a month,” said High-Young. “We communicate. We have also incorporated Fort Bragg and Sonoma. We are working on outside districts to come (into the district director organization) so that we can get a bigger co-op and our price comes down a little bit. Not a lot, but better than if I was the only one buying.

“We also prepare the same meals according to guidelines,” High-Young added. “We put together an order guide every year of the products that we will use to go along with the nutritional guidelines. We determine how much each site is going to use and we put those numbers together.”

“Reaching out to the other districts helps us with our networking and buying power.”

By reaching out to the children, High-Young added, “You’re changing a life every day.”

A list of Lake County school breakfast and lunch programs and locations is below. (Note: Anyone under the age of 18 is welcome at all locations.)

Kelseyville High School cafeteria
5480 Main St.
Director: Michelle Malm
Dates: Monday-Friday, July 7-31
Hours: Breakfast, 7:30-8 a.m.; Lunch: 11:45 a.m.-noon
Program: In existence for more than 25 years, Kelseyville’s is longest continuously operating student-lunch program in Lake County. Three hundred students are anticipated for this summer’s program. Some meals will be served outside in Library Park.
Phone: 707-279-2519

Kelseyville Elementary School cafeteria
5065 Konocti Road
Director: Michelle Malm
Dates: Monday-Friday, July 7-31
Hours: Breakfast, 7:30-8 a.m.; Lunch, 11:20-11:40 a.m.
Program: See preceding.
Phone: 707-279-2519

Terrace Middle School cafeteria
250 Lange St., Lakeport
Director: Jackie Courtney
Dates: Monday-Friday, June 13-July 1 2 (closed July 4-5)
Hours: Breakfast, 7:45-8:30 a.m.; Lunch, 11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.
Program: In its seventh year, the program serves a student body of 120-150 children.
Phone: 707-262-3028

Lower Lake Elementary School cafeteria (Grades: K-8)
9240 Lake St.
Director: Sandy Lopez
Dates: Monday-Friday, June 9-July 3
Hours: Breakfast, 7:30-8:30 a.m.; Lunch, noon-1 p.m.
Program: In its third year , the K-8 and 9-12 age-group programs are expected to serve an overall 150 students
Phone: 707-994-4543

Lower Lake Elementary School cafeteria (Grades 9-12)
9240 Lake St.
Director: Sandy Lopez
Dates: Monday-Friday, June 9-July 18
Hours: Breakfast, 7:30-8:30 a.m.
Program: See previous.
Phone: 707-994-4543

Middletown High School cafeteria (Grades K-12)
20932 Big Canyon Road
Director: Heather High-Young
Dates: Monday-Friday, June 9-Aug. 1
Hours: Breakfast: 7:30-9 a.m.; Lunch, 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m.
Program is in its first year and anticipates serving 50-75 breakfasts and 100-200 lunches.
Phone: 707-987-1489

Upper Lake High School cafeteria (Ages K-12)
675 Clover Valley Road
Director: Melissa Konkel
Dates: Monday-Friday, June 9-Aug. 1
Hours: Breakfast (summer school students only), 7:30-8 a.m.; (all others), 8-9 a.m. Lunch, Noon-1 p.m.
Program: Between 50 and 100 students are expected to be served in Upper Lake. Years of operation for the program are unknown.
Phone: 707-275-2338

Email John Lindblom at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .