Published: Monday, February 18, 2013 at 12:38 p.m. Last Modified: Monday, February 18, 2013 at 12:38 p.m.

Tina Ward, a lifelong nutrition educator and promoter of good food and healthy living, knows about overindulging.

And not just with food.

My colleagues and I sometimes joke that we are absolute gluttons for punishment when you consider all the rules, regulations and changing standards we have to adhere to, says Ward, the director of Child Nutrition for the 12,335 students spread across the Brunswick County school district.

In her role the past six years at Brunswick County schools, and for another six years prior to that in Child Nutrition in New Hanover County schools, Ward and her colleagues tackle two very distinct challenges.

1. Make feeding children a break-even business: In Brunswick, Ward administers a $6.5 million budget that must break even after hiring and managing 105 Child Nutrition employees, scattered between 19 school sites and the central office, and paying the grocery bill along with other required operating expenses. The Child Nutrition Program is a self-supporting enterprise within the school system.

2. Meet exacting standards for feeding students: Chief among the agencies helping her break even is the federal government, in the form of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, from which Ward receives more than $4 million of her revenue and almost all of her guidelines, which is to say the Healthy, Hunger Free Kids Act (HHFKA).

The HHFKA authorizes funding and sets policy for the USDA's core child nutrition programs, which, says the USDA, has allowed it to make real reforms to the school lunch and breakfast programs by improving the critical nutrition and hunger safety net for millions of children.

It has also revved up Ward and her colleagues with another major project by authorizing and funding the Summer Food Service Program. And Ward is about to tackle it this summer with her insatiable zeal and admirable work ethic.

In Brunswick County, says Ward, 62 percent of the students receive free or reduced-priced meals.

Continue reading here:
Head of Brunswick school nutrition serves up good food