Happy Lunar New Year!

To see the blogpost for the Lunar New Year, please visit Cassandra's blog at the following link:www.cassandracml.blogspot.com

The Sodexo Food and Nutrition Team at Lahey shows support to our beloved New England Patriots. Good Luck in the playoff game on Sunday!

Left to Right: Maria, Michael,Herb,Jason and Rose

Ayoub and Rich

Happy Martin Luther King Day (Jan 20,2014)

In three more days, on January 20,2014, we will be celebrating Martin Luther King Day in all 50 states in the United States. Last August 28, 2013 marked the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington where Rev.Dr.Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his famous "I Have A Dream" speech.

I was in college when I first heard the speech. I came to this country with the knowlege that he was a reverend and a civil rights activitist and I had a lot of respect for what he did. But hearing his speech for the first time was something that I would never forget. To this day, when I hear his speech, tears will start flowing down. I can feel the struggle,hope, and the fight for freedom and equality in his speech. I remember asking myself how could someone be so selfless? Where did he find his strength? Where did he find his courage? If only I could talk to him today. These would be the questions that I had and of course, I would like to give my sincerest thanks to him. Thank you for being born. Thank you for all that you do!

While talking to my colleagues in the Food and Nutrition department, I realized that many of us felt so grateful for the work Rev.Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. did. Here is a few feedbacks of how they felt when they hear the speech for the very first time:

" I look up to Dr.Martin Luther King Jr. He is very strong, powerful and influential. He wanted everyone to be seen equal, which we should do. I personally look up to him. In 2009, I went to the National Civil Rights museaum in Memphis, Tennessee  http://www.civilrightsmuseum.org/ which unfortunately is also the place Dr. Martin Luther King died. The visit was very impactful and emotional"
Quote from Shaina Volovick

"He is very passionate on what he wanted and he was there for the people"
Quote from Kellsey Morley

"He fought for a good cause and he died for a cause which he believed in. If he was still here today, I am sure he would continue this amazing journey"
Quote from Herb Rukin

" I feel free, pride,feel like you have someone who stands for your rights. It's a good feeling and it makes me happy"
Quote from Myrlande David

"We all should get along. That the United States should be a country where everyone gets along"
Quote from Jason Surette

Here is a link to his speech from the National Archives http://www.archives.gov/press/exhibits/dream-speech.pdf and the video in the International Business Times article
http://www.ibtimes.com/i-have-dream-speech-full-transcript-video-read-dr-martin-luther-king-jrs-1963-speech-its-50th

Happy Martin Luther King Day!

Sodexo Food and Nutrition Team community involvement

The Sodexo Food and Nutrition Team at Lahey Hospital and Medical center believes in giving back to our community. In the past few years, we have been actively involved with non-profit organizations around Massachusetts. The team has previously voluntered at:

1)My Brother's Table at Lynn,MA  www.mybrotherstable.org

My Brother's Table is "privately funded and does not receive nor seek federal, state, or local aid. The organization has been serving an average of 200 hungry, homeless, or lonely people for lunch and dinner each day since October 1982"

2) The Boston Food Bank. http://www.gbfb.org/index.php

"The Boston Food Bank is the largest hunger-relief organization in New England and among the largest food banks in the country. Last year, we distributed almost 41 million pounds of food, enough to provide healthy meals to as many as 545,000 people. We are committed to increasing our food distribution in 2013 to provide at least ONE MEAL A DAY to every person in need in eastern Massachusetts"

3) Donating shoes and kitchen equipment to Haiti during the earthquake

This week, Linda Clay, Director of Food and Nutrition and Cassandra Loh, Senior Trainer, visited the New England Center for Arts and Techonology (NECAT) in Boston,MA http://ne-cat.org/ for volunteering and internship opportunities. The NECAT Boston was established in June 2012. It is a non-profit career-directed educational organization serving resource-limited adults and youth in Boston.The space has been transformed to accommodate NECAT’s first job-training program – Culinary Arts, and includes a teaching auditorium, commercial kitchen, classroom space, plus office and gallery space.

We met with Richard Ward, Executive Director of NECAT and Keith Schultz, Sodexo General Manager and NECAT advisory board member and toured the facility. We were impressed by the culinary expertise of the student as well as the NECAT's vision- "NECAT believes that all people, regardless of age or circumstance, can overcome educational, economic and social constraints to stable employment if they are supported by a nurturing learning community in an environment filled with hope, beauty and real-world skill-building".

We look forward to working with NECAT so we can continue to give back to our community







Lahey Food and Nutrition Team and NE PANG at My Brother's Table,Boston,MA




NECAT student preparing lunch in the kitchen

 


NECAT Boston

 

Linda Clay,Director of Food and Nutrition at the art gallery at NECAT Boston













Special thanks to our Environmental Services colleagues who made it to work during the snow storm this past week

Here are pictures of some of our Environmental Services department collegues who braved the winter storm this past week to come to work.

Thank you for your dedication and hardwork!

Sara,Edlie,Mariano,Andre and Sonia

Joujoute and Edlie

Teamwork displayed by the Food and Nutrition team during the first winter storm in 2014

First 2014 winter storm. Picture taken in front of the hospital.

It's still snowing in Burlington and the roads are still covered with snow as I wrote this blog on a Friday morning. According to the National Weather Service, Boxford, just north of Boston, by Thursday night, had 21 inches of snow while other parts of the state had 17 or 18 inches of snow.

It took me 2 and a half hours to come to work today. I took the public transportation today instead of driving as it will take me longer to drive. I had to admit, the trip is a bit exhausting but my tireness all melted when I walk in to the department. Smiling faces greeted me every step that I walk and I was also greeted by concerned colleagues asking me how my trip to work was today. I am sure they experienced the same when they came to work today. The feeling is truly magical.

The true dedication and teamwork of the Food and Nutrition team at Lahey truly shows during this challenging time. There is only one call out today and it is business as usual in the department. I can't help but felt enourmous pride and humility for the opportunity to work with this amazing team.

I also learned that there were also a few colleagues who has been here at the hospital since 11am yesterday and spend the night in the hospital to serve sandwiches to our colleagues who was stucked in the hospital. Some colleagues also spend the night at a nearby hotel so they could make it to work on time the next morning. Thank you for for putting patients at the heart of everything we do. A special thank you to Heather Dinnitto, Erion Nikolla, Matt Spencer, Bradley Naim, Niki Perry and Jonathan Robins for staying overnight in the hospital.

We are very grateful of having such an amazing team.

Here are some pictures from colleagues that came to work today:




(Left to Right: Heather and Erion)




(Left to Right: Nikki,Jody,Erion,Keith)

 


(Left to Right: Silas and Diane)

 

(Left to right: Silas, Manny,Marc,Steve,Keith,Shana,Jason)



(Left to Right: Our RDs team: Katherine,Sara,Allison,Taylor,Elizabeth, Susan,Rebecca (Becky))



John Brigham



(Left to right: Ayoub and Rich)