Bend school’s ‘lunch lady’ learns all 300 or so names

Could you memorize 300 names, to match them with faces, in about three weeks? Debbie Van Vliet, kitchen manager at Bend’s Pacific Crest Middle School, says she works to do just that, every year.

“I do it because names are important,” Van Vliet said. “We’re not another number. We’re not a statistic.”

She says she does it so “that the kids know they are loved and appreciated when they come through my line.”

NewsChannel 21’s Katie Zuniga has the story.