LifeChanger of the Year Nominee Profile

Anji Branch was nominated by an anonymous colleague.

"'Just love them and feed them.' When I think of Anji Branch, I think of those words. Beyond meeting federal regulations that the program requires, her mission is to make sure that every child who walks through our school’s cafeteria receives a hearty meal, a warm smile, and love."

“We are the only staff that doesn’t have to discipline students. We get to love them and feed them”. These are words Ms. Branch embeds into her staff. She encourages staff to be positive, smile, interact with students, and treat them as their best customers. They truly are. She reminds staff that students should be made to feel welcome and important in the kitchen. Actions, words, and kindness make a daily difference in children’s lives, whether they're big or small. She leads by example and makes a difference in so many ways.

Ms. Branch takes the time to visit the cafeteria and talk with students at lunch. She knows many of them by name. Meeting meal patterns is an important task, but it's also important to her that students savor and enjoy their meal. To ensure that students' voices are heard, she created a Student Nutrition Advisory Panel that allows students to taste foods before they are considered a menu item. Students meet monthly to try new foods and summarize their likes and dislikes of school lunch. She administers an after-school supper program to ensure that at-risk students who work after regular school hours are receiving meals to keep them focused on school, not hunger.

Alongside her son, she helped create a school pantry for students to have access to food when they're in need. When school is out for the summer, she administers the Summer Food Service Program, which provides and delivers meals for children at no cost. She works year round to make sure that children in her community have access to meals. What's most admirable about her is that she never hesitates to jump in and offer a working hand in the kitchen when it's short-staffed.

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, like many schools across the nation, Gooding Elementary/Middle School faced school closure. With the school closure came food insecurity. Little did the community know that Ms. Branch was already coming up with a plan to make sure the students didn’t go without meals.

“We have to keep feeding kids,” she said.

She didn’t skip a beat. With the support of kitchen staff, teachers and volunteers, meals were delivered to homes through bus routes.  Curbside pickup was also made available. School doors may have been closed, but the school’s kitchen doors and the hearts of staff remained open.

So much happens behind her desk, but Ms. Branch's workload is nothing compared to the ambition she has to make the child nutrition program one of a kind for students in Gooding School District. In 2006, she was the first food service director in the West Region to receive the HealthierUS School Challenge Gold of Distinction Award for Gooding Elementary School.  She was acknowledged by former First Lady Michelle Obama at the School Nutrition Association Conference for this achievement. Later, she was invited to a luncheon at the White House. In 2011, she received an Honorable Mention for Service in Distinctive or Rural/Underserved Communities from the state Child Nutrition Program.  She currently serves as Vice President on the board for the Idaho School Nutrition Association. She is also an active member of the Idaho USDA Foods Advisory Council.

Her latest highlight? Creating the first child nutrition food truck in the state of Idaho. The food truck will provide reimbursable meals to students at no cost throughout the current school year. It will deliver and serve meals during the summer to children at no cost and will also serve as a concession stand at games. Along with all the meals that will be served from the food truck, you can be sure that she will continue to offer a warm, caring, and loving smile to the children at Gooding School District, just as she has for the last 20 years.

"It is with great honor that I nominate her. Her loyal, caring, and compassionate nature make her an exceptional director, and she is worthy of such nomination," said her colleague.