The beet

The Whitsons team at the Learning Center for the Deaf in Framingham, MA exemplifies the mission of Enhancing Life One Meal at a Time™ and the Whitsons Way by learning American Sign Language (ASL) to better serve their students. 

Iain Love, General Manager, recognized the importance of becoming more proficient in ASL to ensure that the students that he and his team serve feel more connected in the cafeteria and around campus every day. The primary language of interaction on campus is ASL, so when Whitsons became the school meal provider in July 2024, Iain and the team enthusiastically embraced the challenge of learning ASL to best communicate throughout the school community. 

“We really just wanted to be able to converse with the students and staff and to be able to understand what they need from us,” says Iain.

Iain worked with the school’s administrators to set up ASL classes for both himself and the Whitsons team, ironing out a schedule where they could continue their own education in ASL twice per week after lunch hours. The Whitsons team – including Iain, his brother Andrew Love, and Kelly Pellerin – embraced the opportunity to become more proficient in ASL. The classes are led by a former student, Daniel, who Iain used to serve in his seven years as a member of the food service team prior to Whitsons becoming the school meal provider at the Learning Center for the Deaf.

“Once I was promoted to the management position, I talked to the business manager David and just told him, my sign knowledge isn’t great. Still, I’ve been here for a long time. I’d really like to improve on that. But I’d also like to get the team up to speed so that when people are trying to communicate with them, they don’t need to pull me in to try to translate. That way we can all just be on the same page and everybody can do their best. It makes the kids happy when they know they can look at us and we understand them.”

Alyssa Charles, District Manager, has supported the team’s ASL education, recognizing the importance of showing the students and staff how important it is for the Whitsons team to be able to communicate with students in their primary language. 

“Alyssa made an excellent point to me – something I had never considered before. This is a safe space for the students and residents,” says Iain. “They can come here and everybody here understands them. So obviously we try our best. When our service windows are open and they’re looking at us, I’m going to try to start signing and do my best. Even if it’s words I may not know, I might spell it out so that my team or the student can see it, but my team also can hear me saying it. You just try to be as accommodating as possible. You really want them to feel comfortable at all times. They’re all good kids. They’re all nice to us.”

The ASL classes are designed by the Learning Center for the Deaf and geared towards teaching the Whitsons team members practically for a better serving experience, so they can more fully communicate about the food they serve. The ability to better communicate in ASL has resonated with the students and staff members.

“They definitely open up a little bit more,” says Iain. “Now, instead of saying, ‘I don’t want chicken’, they’ll tell you why they don’t want chicken or why they don’t like the chicken served in this particular way. So, I’ll remember that for next time and we can do something a little different for you, because we also have the residential students here. So we try to make them feel more like they’re at home.”

“I was saying to my brother today, I was having a conversation with the Business Manager and he’s deaf and it just felt smooth. He signed to me a discussion about pizza on Tuesdays and Fridays. We do our pizzas then and he asked me, ‘If I got a pizza and a sandwich, what’s the meal total with that?’ And I was just explaining to him, it would be two meals and staff would have to enter their Point of Sale twice. I was able to sign all of that. I looked at my brother as soon as the Business Manager turned around and I’m just like, ‘That felt great.’ It just feels great to improve every day.”

Iain and the team plan to continue their ASL education throughout the 2025-26 school year, so they can improve upon what they have learned and become more fluent and advanced in ASL. It is representative of what the Whitsons Way means to them.

“I want everyone here to know I care and I want the best for them,” says Iain.  “And if it means I have to learn another language, I’m going to do that.”