Food Service

Welcome to Effingham Unit 40 Food Services web page!

Our mission as the Unit 40 food service staff is to provide nutritious, eye appealing foods that promote healthy eating habits. We will serve the students in a safe, clean, and friendly environment to promote healthy bodies and minds that will enable them to EXCEL!

Our department employs 31 well trained staff members including a food service director, cafeteria coordinator, head cooks, cooks, and cashiers. 

This institution is an equal opportunity provider.

Fruits

Hello Unit 40 Family, 

This is Ryan Elsasser, your Food Service Director with information about the breakfast and lunch programs this year.

Under the Community Eligibility Provision, our district qualifies for free meals. What that means for this year, and for at least the next 3 years, is that breakfast and basic lunches are no cost to all students.

Because of this new program, we can no longer allow negative account balances. If your student’s account is low, and a purchase brings them into a negative balance, they will not be allowed extra milks or extra portions. At the high school level they will not have access to the ala carte lines until the account has a positive balance.

At EHS, Lines 1 and 2 are free lunch and lines 3 through 5 are ala carte. Students can check their lunch account balance on their school issued laptop. If they go through ala carte lines and don’t have a positive account balance to cover the items, their tray will be taken away and will be sent to Line 1 or 2. 

We recently installed new user-friendly meal software that you can access in the parent portal and add money to your students account. There will be a small fee for this convenience. You can also send in a check or cash with your student to avoid these fees. 

We are always adding choices to the menu so students can energize their day with a healthy breakfast. We start serving at 7:30 am and hope to see your student there. I believe it’s much easier to learn on a stomach that’s not growling. 

We are looking forward to another great year and hope you are too. 

Ryan Elsasser
Food Service Director
Unit 40 Schools

Click here for all lunch menus.

We are always looking for ways to improve our menu.  Please use the following email address to send me your suggestions: [email protected].

I look forward to hearing from you. 

Best, 
Ryan 

MyPlate

My Plate - www.choosemyplate.gov


Contact Information

If you have questions relating to Unit 40 Food Services please contact:
Ryan Elsasser, Food Service Director
217-540-1527

Links

Add Money to Lunch Account Online

2023-2024 Meal Application
(East Side Families Only)

Free and Reduced Lunch Application English

Free and Reduced Lunch Application Spanish  


School Wellness Policy

6:50-AP Local Wellness Policy
Triennial Assessment

Other Information

Benefits of Breakfast
USDA Nondiscrimination Statement
Food Safety
Fruits and Veggies Matter
Dietary Guidelines