Shelly Barr: 'This has to be your heart'
Shelly Barr
Cafe Manager
La Mesa School
This August 2024 will mark 20 years for Shelly Barr as a cafe manager in the Monterey Peninsula Unified School District. Shelly began her MPUSD journey as a substitute in the kitchen at Del Rey Woods Elementary School before moving to Foothill Elementary School for 15 years before it closed, and today she serves at La Mesa School in Monterey.
“My life has gone full circle,” she beams. “I absolutely love these children and love this school that I am at.”
Every day is an adventure for Shelly. “You don’t know what these children are going to tell you. They say I’m the best ‘cooker’ because I’m making it with love. This just can’t be a job. This has to be your heart. You can’t just come in for the paycheck," she said.
When Shelly came to La Mesa School, it didn’t serve breakfast. Under her leadership, they implemented breakfast and today serve 400 kids a day.
“I’m doing as much breakfast as the high schools,” she says. “I’m blowing them away. It’s a blast.”
As for lunch, the cafe serves between 350 to 380 meals a day.
“I had 400 for lunch one day and I cried. I couldn’t believe it. I’m striving for 500,” she says.
Shelly has seen many changes through the years. She loves the salad bars that are available today. “We’re implementing food that is not packaged. We are preparing a lot more stuff. The smell in the kitchen from cooking from scratch. It's wonderful,” she says.
Her energy is infectious and felt throughout La Mesa. She loves her team that includes Shelly, her assistant manager and salad bar ‘queen.’
“I think about this place all the time. I can’t wait to get here," she said. In fact, she arrives at La Mesa between 5:15-5:45 a.m. every day.
“I love my job and I hope everyone out there working with these children love their job too,” says Shelly. “I am happy to be here. You’ll never catch me in a bad mood ever.”
Shelly also recalls helping families and students in need during the coronavirus pandemic. She says safely serving them meals from the front of La Mesa School was an honor.
"My daughter and I did the pandemic bag lunches 300 a day her and I together and I knew this community I wanted to come back and there was an opening and it was mine," she said.
Outside of work, Shelly enjoys spending time with her husband and two adult daughters. She is an avid Dallas Cowboys fan, too. She looks ahead to retirement in three to five years and moving back to Albuquerque, New Mexico.