Food service worker is ‘unflappable’

Approaching her job with a “can do” attitude for nearly 20 years, Darcy Fields inspires and impresses as a satellite cook at Pacifica School District. The Laguna Salada Chapter 128 member was named CSEA’s 2008 Member of the Year for food services.

Serving as many as 350 meals a day to hungry students, Fields is a workhorse, doing whatever is necessary to get the job done and make the kids happy. Regional Kitchen Manager Lisa Kern said Fields does everything she can to ensure the students enjoy the food she serves.

“Darcy has a lot of compassion for the children,” Kern said. “She cares about the kids and puts out the best quality of food she can. Darcy really believes ‘if I’m not going to eat it, I’m not going to serve it,’ so she makes sure that it is presentable when it goes out.”

“If I’m not going to eat it, I’m not going to serve it.”

Cooking nutritious meals for six hours a day, Fields has a reputation for delivering high-quality food. Cabrillo Elementary School Principal Scott Carson called Fields a “consummate professional.”

“Every part of what she does is done extremely well, and that dedication and commitment to quality is evident in everything she does,” Carson said.

Satellite Kitchen Assistant Ronda Hamilton said Fields never seems to get overwhelmed. She described Fields as “Gumby,” the children’s television character, because of her ability to be flexible in any situation.

“She works really well with the staff and if they need her to adjust something, she’ll do what’s necessary,” Hamilton said.

Some of Fields’ most impressive work has been done with the district’s recipe binder. During the normal course of her work, Fields would constantly make corrections to the recipes to ensure no food was wasted and no ingredients went unused. Child Nutrition Consultant Karis Gulizia incorporated the corrections suggested by Fields and redistributed the recipe binder to ensure the district was efficiently using its resources.

“She made it so our inventory was more accurate, because people were using exactly what they ordered,” Gulizia said. “There was no waste. With very tight education budgets, she knew how important it was that we stretch our dollar as far as we possibly could, and we did.”

Fields will go the extra mile to make sure that no food goes wasted, but at the same time she tries to make sure the students will enjoy it. Once, the district received a lot of cherries that were really sour. After learning that the kids thought they were too sour, Fields made cherry crisp from a recipe her mother gave her.

“It’s nice to get an acknowledgment that says ‘job well done.’”

Fields was surprised to learn of the Member of the Year honor.

“I really was in total shock. It’s nice to be recognized for the work I’ve done,” she said. “It’s nice to get
an acknowledgment that says ‘job well done.’”

Fields is also active in her CSEA  chapter, serving as secretary and site representative. She’s been instrumental in getting fellow members to join the CSEA Victory Club, which supports political candidates and issues important to classified employees.

“Your donation goes to help in Sacramento to fight the different propositions that are trying to take rights away from classified employees,” Fields said. “I think everybody should belong to that.”

“I think the kids are great. I love feeding them, and I love working with them.”

Outside of work, Fields is an avid soccer player. More than 10 years ago, she volunteered to coach the first girls soccer team at Terra Nova High School. Before she volunteered, the girls had to play with the boys team, and she wanted to ensure they had their own team.

“I enjoyed it. It was a lot of fun coaching at the high school,” she said.

Though Fields just considers her work with the district “part of the job,” her co-workers understand the special person they work with. Fields appreciated the vote of support.

“I’m just really honored to have won this award. I think the kids are great. I love feeding them, and I love working with them,” Fields said. “And I have a great team to work with.”