Bhaumik Thaker attented this Year’s NYSNA Conference and was happy to report that attendance was even better than last year. It was a pleasure getting together with some of our customers, Lisa Ostrowski from North Colonies Central Schools, Cathy Drumm from Hudson City School District & Linda Lee and Carlene Evans from Shenendehowa Central School District. The industry dinner and Breakfast was a great opportunity to meet new people on a more personal level.

Bhaumik and Lisa

Bhaumik Linda and Carlene

Bhaumik and Cathy

At the SNAI Conference on June 23rd & 24th, Denise and Judi attended a wonderful dinner and a dance party on a boat. “Iowa knows how to have fun!” Denise commented. Sharing a beautiful sunset with our friends in Iowa only added to the experience. We missed our pals at Ottumwa Community School District, but it was really great to see our friends from Johnston Community School District. JCSD’s Nutrition Services secretary, Cheryl Spring won the $25 Visa gift card.

Denise with JCSD girls

Becki and Betty had great time “Deep In The Heart of Texas” June 21-24th at the TASN Annual Conference in beautiful Grapevine, TX. Becki said, “we were able to spend time with old friends and make new ones. Our Texas family is always so helpful in giving us great feedback. We love hearing from you and we can’t wait to see everyone again in Austin next year!

Betty & Becki

Denise & Betty

Denise Lessard, DJ Segraves and Betty Zimmerman had a blast at the Florida SNA 2015 Annual Conference in Daytona Beach, May 14-16. As always they got to catch up with old friends and make new ones.

Ida & Maggie

We would like to congratulate Ida Daniels, Hamilton County Food & Nutrition Coordinator, on receiving the Director of the Year Award from Florida SNA President, Maggie Green.

Cathy & Denise

We raffled a Coach handbag and the lucky winner was Amy Hayden, Leon County Central Kitchen Manager. Unfortunately, Amy had already left by the time of the drawing, but Cathy Reed, Director of Nutrition Services, was available to pick up the bag for her.

Last month, Ava Wojcik and Tony Diers attended the 37th Annual Alabama School Nutrition Association Expo in Montgomery, AL. They had a wonderful time making new friends and catching up with customers. It was great to hear from our TrakNOW customers that TrakNOW reports are working well for their Administrative Reviews.

PCS support has been working hard with the the ASLSDE to make sure that PCS customers can utilize a common interface with the INow enrollment system. All customers in Alabama have been contacted and many stopped by the booth to discuss utilizing this valuable tool.

Becki Rogers & Ava Wojcik attended the GSNA 2015 Annual Conference in Athens, GA April 9-11. Celebrating 60 years of feeding Georgia’s children made this a very special event. PCS was proud to be able to sponsor free Wi-fi to all attendees at the Classic Center and to provide computers for use in the Director’s Lounge. We enjoyed three fabulous fun filled days of quality time with our friends in Georgia. We are proud to have Becki serving on the Industry Advisory Board for 2 more years with GSNA. We are super proud of our friends at Grady County School District, who were honored with a Bronze Scroll and a District Scroll. Keep up the great work!

This year got off to a great start with Judi Dugan and Gabe Aiello attending the SNIC (School Nutrition Industry Conference) in Phoenix, AZ. As always the conference was both inspirational and informative. There was also plenty of time to network with customers, old friends, and new acquaintances. Kate Cole, president, Cinnabon Inc., was one of many dynamic speakers and provided several examples of how to create and capitalize on small “wins” and how to get the word out to others in order to accomplish larger goals.

In breakout sessions, directors from several districts shared their successes. Each had their own personal story about how they implemented a variety of creative ideas; from planting gardens with students and finding how easy it was to get them to taste and eat their harvests, turning fruits and vegetables into smoothies to get middle school kids to try them out, to reaching out into the community to provide salad bars donated by funds raised in area restaurants. These are just a few of the great ideas that were shared.

See some success stories from our Customer of the Month, Patty Page, Director of Nutrition Services at Manteca USD. Patty was recently named Director of the Year by CASNA.

The Georgia SNA Industry Seminar in Savannah in early December was a wonderful learning opportunity for Becki Rogers and Ava Wojcik It was a great opportunity to network with of our current and potential customers as well as new solutions partners. PCS donated a beautiful Coach purse for the live auction and it was the 2nd highest bid item. The proceeds from the live auction support the Georgia School Nutrition Foundation for furthering Child Nutrition Research, Professional Development for Staff and Public Education on School Nutrition. Our Networking table at the luncheon was charged with discussing the challenges districts face in the bidding process, as well as the challenges industry faces in responding to bids. Sharing challenges as well as best practices brought understanding to all stake holders. Becki and Ava were able to meet Kirk Farquharson from USDA Food and Nutrition Services Southeast Region and were able to share with him, face to face, the difficulties that customers experience with the implementation of the latest federal regulations. They also were able to share with him how PCS products are being used to support implementation of the guidelines. Check out our Facebook page for pictures from the seminar.

Denise Lessard had a fabulous time” Singing in Unison, While Embracing Change and Harmony” with old friends and new friends at the FSNA 2014 Industry Seminar, Commodity, & Equipment Expo at Innisbrook Resort in beautiful Palm Harbor, Florida. Fun was had by all on Wednesday at the Casino Night – Florida School Foodservice Foundation Fundraiser. There was lots of whooping and hollering going on at the craps table. All in all, everyone was a winner, especially us for being fortunate enough to be able to spend quality time with customers, meeting new friends and helping out the Florida School Foodservice Foundation at the same time. On Thursday, the exhibit hall was decked out in Fall colors and full of activity. Hope to see everyone again at our user group in the Spring!

Denise with friends from Miami – Dade and Hamilton