May 11—JAMESTOWN — The owner of the Grateful Plate was all smiles on Tuesday, May 9, as she made her way into a meeting room in the basement of the Stutsman County Law Enforcement Center with a busing cart full of food. Ryan Deleon, a deputy jail administrator with the Stutsman County Correctional Center, greeted Nikke Domke and helped her unload food from the cart and set items neatly on the tables.

The meal was part of an organized effort by Domke and Deleon's wife, Bre Rueda Deleon, owner of Complete Cleanliness, to provide a meal for Stutsman County Correctional Center employees during National Correctional Officer and Employee Appreciation Week, which is May 7-13. Domke volunteered to cook and serve the meal while Deleon cleaned Grateful Plate's kitchen.

Around 30 people, which included 22 correctional center employees, enjoyed a taco bar with all the fixings and homemade cookies. The correctional center also invited a nurse supervisor, members of the Stutsman County Law Enforcement Center's maintenance team and food service employees to join them as well.

Bre said she was interested in serving the meal to correctional center employees because they don't get much recognition.

"They keep everybody in check, everybody in line," she said. "There is a lot that goes on in corrections that people don't know about, don't hear about, don't see."

Bre said the two business owners wanted to serve a meal instead of just purchasing items or gift cards for the correctional center employees because everybody loves food and a "happy belly" means a "happy heart."

"I love taking care of people by feeding them," Domke said.

The two business owners said they would absolutely serve a meal again to the correctional center employees.

Ryan said the employees appreciate the two business owners for volunteering their time to serve others who serve the community and protect residents behind the scenes. He said correctional officers play a vital part in the criminal justice system and are often forgotten about because most of their work is done behind the scenes.

"To put them on the forefront every now and again is going to be an awesome thing and we appreciate them helping us out with that," he said.

Ryan said he and Chad Jackson, jail administrator, were discussing various ideas on how to recognize some of the employees from the correctional center. The two discussed having a meal for the employees on Tuesday and giving out a few awards, including correctional officer of the year and rookie of the year.

"Getting them a little recognition for the hard work they put in day in and day out can help with staff morale and hopefully retention," Ryan said.

He said two people were named for each award — one for the day shift and the other for the night shift.

On Tuesday, Sgt. Miranda Hartman was named the correctional officer of the year and Kyle Krapp was named rookie of the year. On Thursday, May 10, Scott Franke will be recognized as correctional officer of the year and Glen Drake will be named rookie of the year.