At 5:30 a.m. most days, the roads are empty. Lights are off at businesses and the occasional early riser is getting a morning run in.
Dawn Freeman, cafeteria manager at Halls High School, is already preparing food for the hundreds of students she's responsible for feeding two meals a day.
"It's early," Freeman admitted. "My body's awake, though."
Freeman is used to the early call time for a job she started at just 29 years old. Now, she's 30 years into the work and loves it like it's the first day.
Freeman initially took the job because it meant she could spend the afternoons with her children when they were attending Knox County Schools. Now that her children are adults, she can spend the afternoons with her four grandchildren and farm animals.
During those hours she's at Halls High, she really does feel at home, she said.
"It's kind of like my home. It's my home away from home. I can't imagine doing anything else," said Freeman. "When summer's over, I'm ready to be back."
How a kitchen prepares to feed hundred
From the moment Freeman walks in, the work starts. Breakfast opens at 8 a.m., so she and "her girls" − her fellow cafeteria workers − must get to work.
Freeman immediately turns on the dish machine, sets up the food line and puts out several varieties of juices. Breakfast runs until 8:30 a.m., and the workers immediately turn to their largest production: lunchtime.
The first batch of students arrive for lunch at 11:52 a.m. On Aug. 20, the lunch ladies were preparing chicken and waffles, cheese bites and curly fries for the hungry teens. Hundreds of paper trays were lined up to hold the fries. Waffles were laid out, ready to be cooked. Syrup containers were placed on the line to bring the meal all together.
Each menu item is oven-baked or steamed instead of fried, and Freeman is a big fan of the food herself.
"I love school food. I mean, I can't complain about anything that we serve. It's really good food," she said. "And if a child actually gets what they're supposed to get on that tray, it's a very filling lunch."
Freeman has her finger on the pulse of what her students want. The menu is the same across the district, but she knows what will excite her kids.
"They would eat sausage biscuits every single day," Freeman said with a laugh. "They love the mac and cheese sticks. That's always a big hit. They love taco day. They love chili, chips and cheese."
Expressing love through food
The last of the nearly 330 students she's prepared to feed come through the lunch line at 1:20 p.m. Each interaction is a chance to nourish a kid who might not get enough at home.
"These kids, this is the only food that they get a lot of times. I feel like it's happening more and more," Freeman said. "You just don't know what kids' home life is like. And you want to make sure that they have a good lunch. What else can you do?"
Her faith guides how she views her charge as a cafeteria manager.
"Being a Christian, if I pray for something, there's still a small voice in me and He says, 'Just love them.' That's it. You just love them. That's what you do," Freeman said. "If you treat your job and live your life as you're doing it for the Lord, you're going to do the very best that you can."
Freeman said she can't imagine what her life will look like without spending her days at Halls High. She's built not only her life around it, but has built a "found family."
"They become kind of like your family. We spend more time together than we do our own families," she said. "It's just part of me now. It's what I do."
Caitlyn Meisner is the K-12 education reporter for Knox News. Email tips and story ideas to caitlyn.meisner@knoxnews.com.
This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Faith guides Halls cafeteria manager's life serving kids: 'Just love them'
