MEET THE CHARACTERS

JILL SHAH

ENTREPRENEUR AND PHILANTHROPIST

Jill is a Boston based entrepreneur and philanthropist. she leads the initiative with Boston public schools to get Boston cooking for Boston; to get kids eating fresh healthy meals under the federal allowance. She pushes forward hard but Making change in such an unwieldy structure is not without its challenges.

Jennie Hall is born and bred East Boston where she heads up a team of lunch ladies cooking for 1,200 students daily.  She works ten hours a day, keeps her kitchen spotless, her staff in good humor and is unafraid to speak her mind. When the district selects her kitchen as the hub for the pilot project she welcomes the challenge. But when staff start leaving, systems are changed and Jennie’s order disrupted, the outcome is less certain.

JENNIE HALL

Cafeteria Manager, East Boston High

ERICA HERMAN

Principal, Gardner Pilot Academy

Erica runs a K-8 school in a low income area of Allston-Brighton, Boston. She’s fully aware of the connection between good nutrition and good learning. Frustrated by the poor quality vended lunches that her students reject, she’s been fighting for a kitchen for her school for the past ten years. When Jill Shah starts a pilot project to cook lunches from scratch Erica is anxious to get her school involved.

Laura has recently arrived in Boston to run Food Services for BPS. When Jill approaches her to discuss an initiative to get kitchens into schools, she jumps at the chance of improving the quality of school meals. But life is not always quite that simple and Laura has to make some hard decisions.

LAURA BENEVIDEZ

Director of food and nutrition services, Boston Public School

KEN ORINGER

CELEBRITY CHEF AND RESTAURANTEUR

Jill brings in Ken Oringer, well known Boston chef and restaurant owner, to add some nutritional spice to the menus. A dad of school age kids himself, Oringer knows how hard it is to get kids out of their comfort zone. Despite a lack of knives in the kitchen and prevented from using any salt, he sets to work with Jennie’s team and starts to stir things up . . .

Ross works for the Shah Family Foundation, And As a former teacher and administrator within Boston Public Schools, he recognizes how hard it is for big systems to change. He also knows how to navigate the system.

ROSS WILSON 

SHAH FAMILY FOUNDATION, FORMER ADMINISTRATOR WITHIN BOSTON PUBLIC SCHOOLS