The well known phrase, "walk a mile in someone else's shoes" was brought to life at least for a while on Monday Dec. 5 as Dr. Brent Jones, Seattle Public Schools Superintendent and Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell teamed up to serve lunch at Denny International Middle School in West Seattle.

The act of empathy was prompted by the "Lunch Lady" Doree Fazio-Young who wanted to have them visit and make a connection with the students. 

Fazio-Young said,

"This has been a year in the making I watched the State of the District speech and The Mayor said he wanted to get more involved in the school district I believed him and I believed the Superintendent. I wrote two emails and much to my surprise they both accepted! I wanted them to come look into my kids faces their eyes and see what I do on a daily basis."

The students were largely excited about the prospect with many asking for selfies and autographs from people they might have seen in the news but likely never met before.

Fazio-Young showed them her office space and the dedication wall for her friend Nino Cantu, former Janitor and Maintenance person for the Sealth/Denny complex who died in 2018. Fazio-Young led the campaign to have the stadium as the Southwest Athletic Center named in his honor.

The pair dutifully washed up and donned gloves to serve up rice and potstickers and tacos often being thanked by the students. Fazio-Young, so happy they had responded to her request said, "This is a dream come true."

During the experience she let them know that the kitchen on campus put out the most food of any school cafeteria on the west coast during the pandemic.