A military mom has learned firsthand the beautifully simple power of a handwritten note.
Sarah Fiacco, 40, was struggling to settle into her new position as a “lunch lady” at her children’s school, but getting a sweet note from a first grader changed everything for her. She simply loves her job now.
“It is so rewarding,” Fiacco told The Epoch Times. “I can’t wait to see the kids. Honestly, it’s seeing the kids—that’s really what it is for me.”
She says the innocent thank-you note confirmed that she needs to be in the lunchroom with the children, making a difference and spreading love.
Being With Children
Hailing from Colorado, Fiacco is a mother of four: two girls, 16 and 7, and two boys, 14 and 10. Her husband serves in the U.S. Air Force, so the family moves around every two or three years.Before their current stop in Alabama, Fiacco had run a bakery and a preschool in Northern Virginia. She didn’t know it at the time, but these two pursuits lined her up for her current job.
Fiacco wanted to be available for her children and looked at job offers at their school, the Prattville Christian Academy in Alabama. She was first offered a full-time position as a preschool teacher, but her heart was really not in it because she knew it would be exhausting and time-consuming, she says.
“I still wanted to be able to come home and be a good mother to my children,” Fiacco said. “Then they asked me if I wanted to work in the cafeteria.”
Fiacco said she wasn’t initially thrilled about the cafeteria position either.
“Honestly, I just had negative thoughts in my head,” she said. “I have to wear a hairnet. I have to be serving food all day around lots of grease.”
With those thoughts orbiting around her head, she also received advice from family and friends who assured her that she would do a great job working in the school cafeteria. They reminded her of her background in working with kids and baking, as well as her experience as a substitute teacher at the school the previous year, where she had already built relationships with the students.
Ultimately, it was the opportunity to be with her children that tipped the scales, and she accepted the offer.
“One of the biggest reasons I wanted to work in the cafeteria was because I wanted to be able to see my children throughout the day,” she said.
“I told my boss, ‘As long as you’re not sticking me in the back of the kitchen where I can’t interact with the children, I’m willing to take the job.’ Because that was my biggest thing, I really, really wanted to be able to interact with the children, and that’s what I am doing—and I love it.”
‘It Was Truly a Gift’
Since her first day on the job, Fiacco said the students have come to see her. But what completely turned it all around for Fiacco was when she got a touching note from a first-grade student.Fiacco recalled a little girl named Olivia just walked up to her one lunchtime.
“She just came in, and she said, ‘I have something for you.’ And she brought me the little piece of paper and handed it to me, and she gave me a hug,” Fiacco recalled.
The little girl’s note read: “Thank you! For the lunch. From Olivia.”
As she thought about what might have made Olivia write her the note, Fiacco said she didn’t feel like she did much.
“I can’t think of any big interaction that I had with her other than just coming through the line and putting food on her plate, handing her her food, just smiling at her and telling her to enjoy her lunch,” said the loving lunch lady.
Whatever motivated the child to write that heartfelt note, Fiacco was truly inspired. This and other similar positive experiences solidified that she was doing the right thing in the right place.
“I really walked away just feeling confirmed that this is where I’m supposed to be,” Fiacco said. “It’s a lot of hard work, but I want to be there for the children, and the fact that Olivia came and gave that to me just made me feel so good. It’s one of those things in life that are just priceless.”
After receiving the moving note, Fiacco let Olivia know how much it meant to her when she saw her next.
“I told her that that meant so much to me, and she was just so happy. You can imagine a 6- or 7-year-old, just so happy,” Fiacco said. “She’s just smiling from ear to ear, and she knew she did something good as well.”
Later on, Fiacco shared her experience of being a “lunch lady” on social media, which continued to warm many hearts on the internet.
“It just shows that a very simple act of noticing someone can go a really long way,” she said, adding that it also illustrates the beauty and power of doing a good job, even if it’s just being a lunch lady.
“Every job is important but especially the jobs that revolve around children,” she said.
“It’s the next generation, and I think it is just so important to show them that they are loved, and they are valuable—that they are worthy.”
