FISH STEW
GRILLED CHEESE
DESSERTS
HOT CHOCOLATE
Another very cold night. Went inside for the the first stop. I was working the door for a while and it was crazy how cold and raw the wind was every time I let folks in. Just about every single person had the same look of relief when they walked in and got out of the cold. I say just about because some folks never show any joy or pleasure on their face, regardless of how things change. We see a few of those, but mostly our friends are very appreciative of things and let us know it.
ELAINE / TYLER / BRIEN / TWIG / LUKE / ZUPON! / LUKE / BRETT / T.J. / DON / BAILEY / MORGZILLA / CREEEECH! / PEYSON / JOHANNA / KYLE / WAYNE / ANNA / MERRITT
God continues to bless us with an amazing amount of resources every week, and not just in food. Clothes, blankets, socks,....all of these have come our way and continue to do so. God's faithfulness in meeting our needs has never wavered the whole time we've been doing this.
A little self disclosure here:
The whole "blanket, socks, toboggan" thing is one of the toughest things I've dealt with on Tuesday nights.
There are a couple of reasons for this and for the most part they stem from my way of thinking things should go and the way I want things to be........which are often in direct conflict with God's ways and thoughts on things.
And it shames me to say it, but it's true. Sometimes I stop and re-evaluate what I'm thinking and planning and it is the exact opposite of how Jesus would be doing it. Blankets are a good example. I usually have a good idea of how many people have been coming at each stop and what to prepare for. If forty people had been coming to the first stop and I had 15 blankets, my thinking used to be not to pass out blankets until I got more and I could try to ensure everybody got one. But...... that meant 15 people didn't get blankets at all. It also didn't allow for the idea that God gave me those 15 blankets right then for that week and He would make sure they got where He wanted them to go. I didn't have to make that call. I just had to make them available. God had to show and prove that to me several times before I saw what he wanted me to learn.
Another thing is letting go of my way of loving (conditional) and trying to be more Christ-like (unconditional) in the ways I love on Tuesday nights.
Blankets ....again.
Pass them out, everybody gets one...yay!
Next week you ask who needs a blanket and some of the same people say they do.
?
They say it got stole or got wet or something like that.
Week or two later they're back asking for another blanket.
And I don't feel like giving them one. They should've kept up with the other ones I gave them.
My selfish conditional Love says I'll give you one, maybe two, but that's all you deserve. No more.
And I start to resent them for needing another blanket! How bad is that? They're not even my blankets. They're not taking anything off my bed or keeping me from staying warm.
I struggled with this until I realized I was no different from them. I go to God asking for "blankets" all the time and he doesn't hold back or resent me for it. He continues to love me unconditionally and meet my needs.
Now...should they keep up with them or be better about taking care of them? Yeah, but not doing so doesn't change how God loves them and it shouldn't with me either.
Still not the best in the world at that. Working on it.
End of embarrassing self-disclosure
We were leaning towards a FISH FRY! this week for Christmas but have decided not to. The weather, the preparation, the crush of other things on either side of the day......just not the best time.
It is, however, the best time for a mack daddy jacked-up HAMBURGER / HOT DOG throwdown!
We were gonna hit 'em tomorrow night with hamburgers, hot dogs, and every kind of topping we can think of to pile on them.
I'm thinking.....
KETCHUP MUSTARD MAYONNAISE CHEESE PICKLES LETTUCE TOMATO ONIONS JALAPENOES RELISH CHILI SALSA A-1 SAUCE TEXAS PETE BACON ...... and maybe, just maybe....FRIED EGG.
Man alive, ........
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Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Monday, December 13, 2010
...but no sense taking any chances!
Cold.
Real cold. Windy, too.
On nights like that, we try to come inside at the first stop to serve and eat. Fireside Hall is big enough to meet our needs and the tables are always set up. This week, however, there was another group scheduled to use it for a dinner so there went the option of being indoors.
We took the "breakfast for dinner" route this week and had pancakes and cheese grits. It was a good call for a cold night.
PANCAKES AND SAUSAGE
JACKED-UP CHEESE GRITS w/ EGGS and SAUSAGE
HOT CHOCOLATE
ELAINE / CECELIA / JORDAN / MORGAN / ALEXANDRA / ANDREW / FLETCH / MARK / T.J. / TYLER / BRIEN / WAYNE / ELLYN / BLAKE / CHARLES / STEVE / TWIG / DON / SHANNON / CJ / SHARON / MAX / KYLE / AMY / and about 20 other kids and adults with the WILMINGTON FEAR little league baseball team
ANDREW Croom moved up to Youth Group this year and came to Beach Camp. That's when I met his mom Amy. He has come to help on Tuesday nights several time s since and Amy has been very good about asking what we needed and bringing stuff. We planned awhile back for the FEAR team her younger son plays on to come this week and pass out to-go bags they had made. They did an awesome job with the to-go bags! When we do it, we use the ordinary brown lunch bag, but they took big brown paper grocery bags and had a carry out tray in it, a bottle of water, fruit, cards they'd made.....really nice. There at least 10 kids and 5 sets of parents that came to do that.
We got double duty out of them because they also set up the youth room and helped us pass out hoodies, blankets, gloves, and socks.
One of the reasons we had things like blankets and socks to pass out is because of the generous way the congregation at First Baptist gives to help meet needs. The Children's Ministry had their Celebrate Christmas program this past Saturday and collected blankets for us. There was a great response to that for which we are extremely grateful. Don Vigus' SS class collected heavy socks and gloves for us to pass out and the Friendship class takes up a collection for us year round and is incredibly faithful in providing that for us.
A good thing about passing out blankets this week was that everybody at the first stop had something to sit on instead of cold concrete. It might be an old wive's tale, .......
Real cold. Windy, too.
On nights like that, we try to come inside at the first stop to serve and eat. Fireside Hall is big enough to meet our needs and the tables are always set up. This week, however, there was another group scheduled to use it for a dinner so there went the option of being indoors.
We took the "breakfast for dinner" route this week and had pancakes and cheese grits. It was a good call for a cold night.
PANCAKES AND SAUSAGE
JACKED-UP CHEESE GRITS w/ EGGS and SAUSAGE
HOT CHOCOLATE
ELAINE / CECELIA / JORDAN / MORGAN / ALEXANDRA / ANDREW / FLETCH / MARK / T.J. / TYLER / BRIEN / WAYNE / ELLYN / BLAKE / CHARLES / STEVE / TWIG / DON / SHANNON / CJ / SHARON / MAX / KYLE / AMY / and about 20 other kids and adults with the WILMINGTON FEAR little league baseball team
ANDREW Croom moved up to Youth Group this year and came to Beach Camp. That's when I met his mom Amy. He has come to help on Tuesday nights several time s since and Amy has been very good about asking what we needed and bringing stuff. We planned awhile back for the FEAR team her younger son plays on to come this week and pass out to-go bags they had made. They did an awesome job with the to-go bags! When we do it, we use the ordinary brown lunch bag, but they took big brown paper grocery bags and had a carry out tray in it, a bottle of water, fruit, cards they'd made.....really nice. There at least 10 kids and 5 sets of parents that came to do that.
We got double duty out of them because they also set up the youth room and helped us pass out hoodies, blankets, gloves, and socks.
One of the reasons we had things like blankets and socks to pass out is because of the generous way the congregation at First Baptist gives to help meet needs. The Children's Ministry had their Celebrate Christmas program this past Saturday and collected blankets for us. There was a great response to that for which we are extremely grateful. Don Vigus' SS class collected heavy socks and gloves for us to pass out and the Friendship class takes up a collection for us year round and is incredibly faithful in providing that for us.
A good thing about passing out blankets this week was that everybody at the first stop had something to sit on instead of cold concrete. It might be an old wive's tale, .......
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
....this week we're doing BREAKFAST!
I wish I could tell you about this past Tuesday but I can't. I wasn't there.
Somehow, somewhere, sometime I pulled or tore something on my back up around my shoulder blade. It wasn't too painful at first but after a week of just kinda ignoring it, it wore me down. I had to go home last Tuesday and hit the rack and put some heat on it.
Things I know.......
.....they had a lot of help.....
.....they had a lot of people come through and eat....
.....they served Turkey Pot Pie and sweet potato fries....
.....ZUPON!'s dad, Kyle, came with some members of his Bible study and helped
.....Tom Varno was in town and came to help. Hate I missed him.
The best thing I know is.......
Somehow, somewhere, sometime I pulled or tore something on my back up around my shoulder blade. It wasn't too painful at first but after a week of just kinda ignoring it, it wore me down. I had to go home last Tuesday and hit the rack and put some heat on it.
Things I know.......
.....they had a lot of help.....
.....they had a lot of people come through and eat....
.....they served Turkey Pot Pie and sweet potato fries....
.....ZUPON!'s dad, Kyle, came with some members of his Bible study and helped
.....Tom Varno was in town and came to help. Hate I missed him.
The best thing I know is.......
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Thanksgiving wrapup
100 + fed.
Almost 50 people helping.
82 lunch bags passed out.
80 pairs of new socks distributed.
Coats, hoodies and shirts taken away.
It was a great Thanksgiving Tuesday night.
Since it was a holiday and a big meal. we served inside. We put place settings on the table instead of just passing out cutlery in line and after they came through the line and got food we had people walk them to their seat and ask them what they wanted to drink and what type of dessert they wanted, then got it for them.It was a nice change of pace to be able to do those little things for them in a nice relaxed setting.
TURKEY / HAM / DRESSING / MASHED POTATOES / GREEN BEAN CASSEROLE / SWEET POTATO CASSEROLE / ROLLS / DESSERT / SWEET TEA / WATER
The lunch bags had 2 SANDWICHES / CHIPS / SWEET
We wound up cooking 12 turkeys (4 fried, 8 grilled). We had 16 donated, so we have a head start on Christmas. All of them were graciously obtained and donated by folks willing to help and be a part of Tuesday night. Several folks bought and donated pies and desserts for us to use also. Thank you to everyone who helped us with these gifts.
LONDON / SHAUN / LUKE / CHASE / ALYSSA / SUMMER / SYDNEY / RACHEL / CAROLINE / DAVE / JENNA / ALENA / DON / ALEXIS / CREEEEEECH! / BLAKE / STEVE / TWIG / HALEY / EMILY / WAYNE / ELLYN / ZUPON! / LAURA / BRIEN / HAMPTON / MITCH / JACK / BETH / MILLER / ANDREW ///KATRINA / CHRISTIAN / BAILEY / J.BOGGS / BRYANNA / ALEXIS / LANE / KILLER / CAITLYN / ANDY / TJ / ERIC / CANDACE / CHARLES / ...........
.......are people I give thanks for.
Almost 50 people helping.
82 lunch bags passed out.
80 pairs of new socks distributed.
Coats, hoodies and shirts taken away.
It was a great Thanksgiving Tuesday night.
Since it was a holiday and a big meal. we served inside. We put place settings on the table instead of just passing out cutlery in line and after they came through the line and got food we had people walk them to their seat and ask them what they wanted to drink and what type of dessert they wanted, then got it for them.It was a nice change of pace to be able to do those little things for them in a nice relaxed setting.
TURKEY / HAM / DRESSING / MASHED POTATOES / GREEN BEAN CASSEROLE / SWEET POTATO CASSEROLE / ROLLS / DESSERT / SWEET TEA / WATER
The lunch bags had 2 SANDWICHES / CHIPS / SWEET
We wound up cooking 12 turkeys (4 fried, 8 grilled). We had 16 donated, so we have a head start on Christmas. All of them were graciously obtained and donated by folks willing to help and be a part of Tuesday night. Several folks bought and donated pies and desserts for us to use also. Thank you to everyone who helped us with these gifts.
LONDON / SHAUN / LUKE / CHASE / ALYSSA / SUMMER / SYDNEY / RACHEL / CAROLINE / DAVE / JENNA / ALENA / DON / ALEXIS / CREEEEEECH! / BLAKE / STEVE / TWIG / HALEY / EMILY / WAYNE / ELLYN / ZUPON! / LAURA / BRIEN / HAMPTON / MITCH / JACK / BETH / MILLER / ANDREW ///KATRINA / CHRISTIAN / BAILEY / J.BOGGS / BRYANNA / ALEXIS / LANE / KILLER / CAITLYN / ANDY / TJ / ERIC / CANDACE / CHARLES / ...........
.......are people I give thanks for.
Cutting it short
Amazing amounts of food to be given out by amazing groups of people. That's tonight in a nutshell.
We had enough on hand to serve a meal and, as they left, hand them another meal.
And that's without using the 6 Boston Butts Wayne Currie"s scout Troop donated to us this week. We froze those to best use later on in the month. (if you're keeping score at home, that's 2 consecutive weeks we were blessed with donations of Boston Butts. Incredible)
Menu
Stew Beef/Venison and gravy
Rice
Rolls
Collards
Dessert
Sweet Tea/Water
Twig's son Sprig killed a deer last week and donated a ham and some other pieces to us, so we had a Venison /Stew Beef plan in place for Tuesday night. Then John Liverman brought down enough turkey'n gravy, fried chicken, mashed potatoes, dressing and collards to feed the first stop. we decided to continue with the original plan and make to-go plates with the stuff John brought and that way they could leave with a plate for lunch tomorrow. We also made about 40 PB&J to give out.
So much food.
We had enough on hand to serve a meal and, as they left, hand them another meal.
And that's without using the 6 Boston Butts Wayne Currie"s scout Troop donated to us this week. We froze those to best use later on in the month. (if you're keeping score at home, that's 2 consecutive weeks we were blessed with donations of Boston Butts. Incredible)
Menu
Stew Beef/Venison and gravy
Rice
Rolls
Collards
Dessert
Sweet Tea/Water
Twig's son Sprig killed a deer last week and donated a ham and some other pieces to us, so we had a Venison /Stew Beef plan in place for Tuesday night. Then John Liverman brought down enough turkey'n gravy, fried chicken, mashed potatoes, dressing and collards to feed the first stop. we decided to continue with the original plan and make to-go plates with the stuff John brought and that way they could leave with a plate for lunch tomorrow. We also made about 40 PB&J to give out.
So much food.
Thursday, November 11, 2010
....the first motorcycle rides of their lives!
Tonight was a really cool night because:
1. God was faithful and good, providing us with an abundance of food to share with our friends, like he does every week.
2. We had a chance to distribute clothes to our friends. That's always a great blessing to be able to do.
3. The New Hanover High School National Honor Society came and helped us. I work at New Hanover so I know several of them from classes and FCA. They did a great job and were a lot of fun.
4. I got a visit from someone that was totally unexpected and out of left field- but still great.
5. Tuesday nights are always really cool.
6. One other thing I'll tell you about at the end...............
LONDON / ERICA / MALLORY / ELIZABETH / MARY ANNE / SARA / EMILY HOBBS / EMILY HILL / HANNAH / JESSICA / BRIANNA / ALEXIS / MARGARET / ELAINE / CECELIA / MACKENZIE / MISSY / ROCHELLE (I've always called her Ms. Bongiornio and she told me last night to call her Rochelle, so....) / HAYLEY / PAUL / DANIEL / ROBERT / TYLER / SHAUN / SCOTT / ELLYN / WAYNE C. / TWIG / CHUCK / CHARLES / DON / CREEEEEECH! / MORGZILLA / ALEXIS / BRYANNA / GRANT / MR. TRAINER / TYLER / JOHANNA / KILLER / MERRITT / WAYNE
Count 'em up. 42, surpassing the record of 41 we had 3 weeks ago.
42!
And we needed every single one of them. (The ones in orange are National Honor Society students and the ones in bold orange are the ones who stayed for both stops.)
We had 6 cooked Boston Butts donated to us by a local men's ministry that was selling them as a fundraiser. We chopped them up and made BBQ sandwiches. A friend of mine called and gave us a pile of Sweet Potatoes and we had a lot of other produce donated to us this week.
MENU
BBQ SANDWICHES
BAKED BEANS
COLE SLAW
SWEET POTATOES w/BROWN SUGAR, CINNAMON & BUTTER
DESSERT
SODAS
SWEET TEA / WATER
We also had bags with an apple and a bag of cookies to take with them as they left.
We had a room full of t-shirts, hoodies. sweatshirts, and sweaters, as well a decent amount of pants and shoes to pass out. We walked them through that first, then served the meal. It was a good night to do this because there was enough people to have in two places doing stuff.
The National Honor students from New Hanover did a fantastic job all night. To their credit, half of the 20 had already been and helped before so they had an idea what was going on. They were quick to jump in. We chopped our own BBQ and made our cole slaw from scratch and they were on it in a flash.
Now for the other thing........
I'm in the kitchen with everybody, just riding herd on the chaos and noise that comes with that many people, when my phone rings.
It's my sister, Sherry.
She says I know you're busy and I don't want to spoil a surprise, but you need to call Wayne (my brother who lives in Fayetteville).
I say OK.
Before I can get away and call him, he calls me.
Where are you at? he says.
I'm at the church. Why?
Cause I'm in Wilmington looking for you!
????????????????????????????????????
Surprised would be one way to describe me.
Shocked out of my socks would be a better one.
Wayne and I are a year and a half apart in age and light years apart in personality.And not in a bad way. Just different.
Most people don't even know I have a brother.
We get along fine, but don't spend much time together outside of holidays and family reunions.
So for him to ride 100 miles on a motorcycle to see me.........not something I would expect.
It was good to see him. He'd heard my sister talk about when she came to help a couple of months ago and wanted to come help, too. That, and the fact he wanted to take his motorcycle out on the road.
So he did. He helped at the first stop and headed back after we packed up to go to the Mercy House.
But not before he'd given Creeeeeeech and Morgzilla .......
1. God was faithful and good, providing us with an abundance of food to share with our friends, like he does every week.
2. We had a chance to distribute clothes to our friends. That's always a great blessing to be able to do.
3. The New Hanover High School National Honor Society came and helped us. I work at New Hanover so I know several of them from classes and FCA. They did a great job and were a lot of fun.
4. I got a visit from someone that was totally unexpected and out of left field- but still great.
5. Tuesday nights are always really cool.
6. One other thing I'll tell you about at the end...............
LONDON / ERICA / MALLORY / ELIZABETH / MARY ANNE / SARA / EMILY HOBBS / EMILY HILL / HANNAH / JESSICA / BRIANNA / ALEXIS / MARGARET / ELAINE / CECELIA / MACKENZIE / MISSY / ROCHELLE (I've always called her Ms. Bongiornio and she told me last night to call her Rochelle, so....) / HAYLEY / PAUL / DANIEL / ROBERT / TYLER / SHAUN / SCOTT / ELLYN / WAYNE C. / TWIG / CHUCK / CHARLES / DON / CREEEEEECH! / MORGZILLA / ALEXIS / BRYANNA / GRANT / MR. TRAINER / TYLER / JOHANNA / KILLER / MERRITT / WAYNE
Count 'em up. 42, surpassing the record of 41 we had 3 weeks ago.
42!
And we needed every single one of them. (The ones in orange are National Honor Society students and the ones in bold orange are the ones who stayed for both stops.)
We had 6 cooked Boston Butts donated to us by a local men's ministry that was selling them as a fundraiser. We chopped them up and made BBQ sandwiches. A friend of mine called and gave us a pile of Sweet Potatoes and we had a lot of other produce donated to us this week.
MENU
BBQ SANDWICHES
BAKED BEANS
COLE SLAW
SWEET POTATOES w/BROWN SUGAR, CINNAMON & BUTTER
DESSERT
SODAS
SWEET TEA / WATER
We also had bags with an apple and a bag of cookies to take with them as they left.
We had a room full of t-shirts, hoodies. sweatshirts, and sweaters, as well a decent amount of pants and shoes to pass out. We walked them through that first, then served the meal. It was a good night to do this because there was enough people to have in two places doing stuff.
The National Honor students from New Hanover did a fantastic job all night. To their credit, half of the 20 had already been and helped before so they had an idea what was going on. They were quick to jump in. We chopped our own BBQ and made our cole slaw from scratch and they were on it in a flash.
Now for the other thing........
I'm in the kitchen with everybody, just riding herd on the chaos and noise that comes with that many people, when my phone rings.
It's my sister, Sherry.
She says I know you're busy and I don't want to spoil a surprise, but you need to call Wayne (my brother who lives in Fayetteville).
I say OK.
Before I can get away and call him, he calls me.
Where are you at? he says.
I'm at the church. Why?
Cause I'm in Wilmington looking for you!
????????????????????????????????????
Surprised would be one way to describe me.
Shocked out of my socks would be a better one.
Wayne and I are a year and a half apart in age and light years apart in personality.And not in a bad way. Just different.
Most people don't even know I have a brother.
We get along fine, but don't spend much time together outside of holidays and family reunions.
So for him to ride 100 miles on a motorcycle to see me.........not something I would expect.
It was good to see him. He'd heard my sister talk about when she came to help a couple of months ago and wanted to come help, too. That, and the fact he wanted to take his motorcycle out on the road.
So he did. He helped at the first stop and headed back after we packed up to go to the Mercy House.
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
.......When it comes back four seconds!
LONDON / LUKE / BRETT / SHAUN / SAMMY / ERICA / MALLORY / ZUPON! / ELLYN / TWIG / MITCH / HAMPTON / J. BOGGS / CREEEEECH! / ALEXANDRA / BLAKE / STEVE / DAVID / JENNA / T.J. / MARK / CHARLES / LUKE / BRIEN / IAN / DON (#24) / .....got out in the chill last night night and put Faith into action and Love onto a plate for people who needed both.
GRILLED CHEESE
HOMEMADE CHICKEN NOODLE SOUP
FRIED FISH
FRIED SCALLOPS
DESSERT
SWEET TEA / WATER
Twig made the call for the grilled cheese and soup tonight. I'd made about 5 dictatorial decisions in a row for meals so I was glad to hand it off this week. I got a call late in the afternoon that someone had a pan of freshly cooked spots and hush puppies for us. Then when I got downtown I remembered we had some scallops we had been sitting for a while, so I pulled them out (5 gallon-size Zip-Locs) and we had them tonight, too. It is always amazing and humbling to see how much God is capable of putting in our hands to distribute each week. Last week, fried shrimp. Tonight , spots and scallops.
How wild is that for a feeding ministry to be able to do?
It doesn't go unnoticed by our friends either. They comment often on the variety they see and we always give the credit back to God and his graciousness.
There has a been a nice response to the boxes at the Activity Center asking for coat and clothing donations. We're going to distribute them next week.
We'd like to put together a package deal of a toboggan, a pair of socks and a pair of gloves, if we can come up with enough.
We're rearranging some of our storage downtown to make things more efficient and a little easier at the end of the night.
Having the spots last night reminded me that we haven't had a FISH FRY in a while. I'd like to, it's just a matter of can we fit one in now that the Holiday season is on top of us. We'll see.
Don Vigus and I have been working on a plan for a Spring Break Mission Trip with the High School kids that come and help on Tuesday nights. The current thought is to go to New York City and spend 3-4 days plugged in to some homeless/food distribution programs up there. Let you know more as it develops.
Had 45 people in line at the first stop last night when we said the Blessing. That number will go up as it gets colder.
Fixed 10 gallons of homemade chicken soup last night. Went through about half of it, so now we have 5 gallons ready to be used another week. We're smart like that.
It's about time to start switching Sweet Tea for Hot Chocolate. I've never drank one cup of coffee in my life, but I've drunk enough Hot Chocolate to float a battleship. Love the stuff. I like to dunk graham crackers in it. Don't know where that came from but I've done it ever since I can remember.
FOOD JOKE
How do you know when a clock is hungry?...........
GRILLED CHEESE
HOMEMADE CHICKEN NOODLE SOUP
FRIED FISH
FRIED SCALLOPS
DESSERT
SWEET TEA / WATER
Twig made the call for the grilled cheese and soup tonight. I'd made about 5 dictatorial decisions in a row for meals so I was glad to hand it off this week. I got a call late in the afternoon that someone had a pan of freshly cooked spots and hush puppies for us. Then when I got downtown I remembered we had some scallops we had been sitting for a while, so I pulled them out (5 gallon-size Zip-Locs) and we had them tonight, too. It is always amazing and humbling to see how much God is capable of putting in our hands to distribute each week. Last week, fried shrimp. Tonight , spots and scallops.
How wild is that for a feeding ministry to be able to do?
It doesn't go unnoticed by our friends either. They comment often on the variety they see and we always give the credit back to God and his graciousness.
There has a been a nice response to the boxes at the Activity Center asking for coat and clothing donations. We're going to distribute them next week.
We'd like to put together a package deal of a toboggan, a pair of socks and a pair of gloves, if we can come up with enough.
We're rearranging some of our storage downtown to make things more efficient and a little easier at the end of the night.
Having the spots last night reminded me that we haven't had a FISH FRY in a while. I'd like to, it's just a matter of can we fit one in now that the Holiday season is on top of us. We'll see.
Don Vigus and I have been working on a plan for a Spring Break Mission Trip with the High School kids that come and help on Tuesday nights. The current thought is to go to New York City and spend 3-4 days plugged in to some homeless/food distribution programs up there. Let you know more as it develops.
Had 45 people in line at the first stop last night when we said the Blessing. That number will go up as it gets colder.
Fixed 10 gallons of homemade chicken soup last night. Went through about half of it, so now we have 5 gallons ready to be used another week. We're smart like that.
It's about time to start switching Sweet Tea for Hot Chocolate. I've never drank one cup of coffee in my life, but I've drunk enough Hot Chocolate to float a battleship. Love the stuff. I like to dunk graham crackers in it. Don't know where that came from but I've done it ever since I can remember.
FOOD JOKE
How do you know when a clock is hungry?...........
Friday, October 29, 2010
Upon further review.......
....I've changed my mind.
Blame my parents for me not knowing what carrots tasted like!
If they hadn't been so intent on trying to cram collards, turnips and rutabagas in me as a kid, maybe I'd have tried a carrot or two somewhere along the way.
Blame my parents for me not knowing what carrots tasted like!
If they hadn't been so intent on trying to cram collards, turnips and rutabagas in me as a kid, maybe I'd have tried a carrot or two somewhere along the way.
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
....they tried.
Last week's vote for Thanksgiving dinner was......Traditional. Turkey. dressing. Sweet potatoes and all the rest.
DON / WAYNE / ANDY / CHAMBERLAIN / ANDREW / JOHN / ELAINE / ELLYN / TYLER / J.BOGGS / CREEEEEECH! / CHARLES / STEVE /
? ? ? ?
Notice anything different about this week's roster of folks?
There's a 28 person difference!
But that's the way it goes - the week after we have the largest volunteer night ever, we come back with the lightest crowd in a long time.
The biggest reason for youth not being there to help last night was Mid-terms. It's the last week of this grading period and the mid -terms began to day, so I hope and assume they were home studying, which is exactly where they should have been.
The food was inversely proportional to the amount of helpers, though. God absolutely opened up and showered us with abundance this week to pass on to our friends.
My plan was to simply to cook hamburgers patties, bake them in gravy and serve it over rice. I had all that sitting downtown already, so no shopping or running around. But guess who had a better plan?
God.
I got a call Sunday afternoon and someone gave me approx. 45 kielbasas, a pan of sauerkraut, bags of grapes and cheese, bottles of water and a big tub of pretzel sticks.
Sweet!
Then our buddy John Liverman called and dropped off a huge pan of fried shrimp, a pan of Roast Beef and gravy, and a pan of Banana Pudding.
Also Sweet!
Then I remembered I had a couple of gallons of stew beef broth we saved from last week still in the refrigerator, waiting to be used somehow. Who needs to make Gravy? We just cooked the hamburgers, placed them in pans and ladled the hot stew beef broth over them and covered them in foil. Good to go.
So, literally, the hardest decision I had last night was How to get all this food out? and Where to serve what?
That's a good position to be in.
We had rice tonight. Rice is a good thing for us. As Mitch Hedberg once said Rice is great if you're really hungry and want to eat 2,000 of something. The tough thing about it for us, though, is the quantity (100+) and keeping it from 7:30 when it's done cooking until 9:00 when we start serving at The Mercy House. In the past we boiled, drained it and put in a Gatorade cooler. Before long it would clump and get gummy. Not appetizing.
So I researched.
And researched some more.
Then i found a recipe for cooking it differently that guaranteed it would be perfect and keep that way for a long time.
So I gave it a shot, knowing that if I blew it, we'd be out of luck.
I put 2 cups of rice and 4 cups of warm water in a 9x13 pan, then covered it with Saran Wrap and aluminum foil. Let it sit for 30 minutes, then in the oven for 40 minutes at 350 degrees. Pulled it out and waited until I was ready to serve it to take the foil and wrap off.
PERFECT! Cooked just right and no clumping or gumming at all the rest of the night. Each pan was just right.
NEVER BOILING RICE ON TUESDAY NIGHTS AGAIN!
MENU
Hamburger Steak
Rice and Gravy
Fried Shrimp
Kielbasa and Bratwurst
Roast Beef
Bread
Cheese and Grapes
Desserts
Sweet Tea / Water
Didn't have any cocktail sauce for the shrimp, but we did have ketchup and Horseradish sauce, so.....we made FBC Special Sauce! It was actually pretty good. I snuck a little TEXAS PETE in it. Shocker.
QUICK STORY
When I pulled the beef stew broth out of the fridge, I gave it the standard look'n sniff to make sure it was good. Seemed fine. Got it on the stove warming and being stirred. After a while I got Elaine to put a little in a bowl to see how it was.
It wasn't good. There was a strong, kind of sharp mint or mediciney taste to it. so I asked Elaine to try it.
She said it was fine.
?
So I got Andy to taste it.
He said it was fine.
??
Tried Tyler.
He said it tasted better than last week.
???
Two more people and they all said it was fine.
I was afraid that it had absorbed something funky in the fridge (although the fridge smelled fine and was clean), but everybody said it was fine. I had even taken stuff to make gravy because I was sure everyone would agree with me.
So I said Fine we'll use it.
Later, when I pulled it off the stove and looked it into and stirred it, it hit me like a ton of bricks.
Carrots.
What I thought was a bad taste was simply the influence of carrots, which had gotten stronger as it sat for a week.
I didn't know what carrots tasted like!
I don't like carrots. I don't eat them. I guarantee you 99.99 per cent of any carrots ever entering my system has been the direct result of Carrot cake.
Everyone else didn't taste anything wrong because they had eaten carrots before.
I realize this does not reflect well on me, but don't hold it against my parents.........
DON / WAYNE / ANDY / CHAMBERLAIN / ANDREW / JOHN / ELAINE / ELLYN / TYLER / J.BOGGS / CREEEEEECH! / CHARLES / STEVE /
? ? ? ?
Notice anything different about this week's roster of folks?
There's a 28 person difference!
But that's the way it goes - the week after we have the largest volunteer night ever, we come back with the lightest crowd in a long time.
The biggest reason for youth not being there to help last night was Mid-terms. It's the last week of this grading period and the mid -terms began to day, so I hope and assume they were home studying, which is exactly where they should have been.
The food was inversely proportional to the amount of helpers, though. God absolutely opened up and showered us with abundance this week to pass on to our friends.
My plan was to simply to cook hamburgers patties, bake them in gravy and serve it over rice. I had all that sitting downtown already, so no shopping or running around. But guess who had a better plan?
God.
I got a call Sunday afternoon and someone gave me approx. 45 kielbasas, a pan of sauerkraut, bags of grapes and cheese, bottles of water and a big tub of pretzel sticks.
Sweet!
Then our buddy John Liverman called and dropped off a huge pan of fried shrimp, a pan of Roast Beef and gravy, and a pan of Banana Pudding.
Also Sweet!
Then I remembered I had a couple of gallons of stew beef broth we saved from last week still in the refrigerator, waiting to be used somehow. Who needs to make Gravy? We just cooked the hamburgers, placed them in pans and ladled the hot stew beef broth over them and covered them in foil. Good to go.
So, literally, the hardest decision I had last night was How to get all this food out? and Where to serve what?
That's a good position to be in.
We had rice tonight. Rice is a good thing for us. As Mitch Hedberg once said Rice is great if you're really hungry and want to eat 2,000 of something. The tough thing about it for us, though, is the quantity (100+) and keeping it from 7:30 when it's done cooking until 9:00 when we start serving at The Mercy House. In the past we boiled, drained it and put in a Gatorade cooler. Before long it would clump and get gummy. Not appetizing.
So I researched.
And researched some more.
Then i found a recipe for cooking it differently that guaranteed it would be perfect and keep that way for a long time.
So I gave it a shot, knowing that if I blew it, we'd be out of luck.
I put 2 cups of rice and 4 cups of warm water in a 9x13 pan, then covered it with Saran Wrap and aluminum foil. Let it sit for 30 minutes, then in the oven for 40 minutes at 350 degrees. Pulled it out and waited until I was ready to serve it to take the foil and wrap off.
PERFECT! Cooked just right and no clumping or gumming at all the rest of the night. Each pan was just right.
NEVER BOILING RICE ON TUESDAY NIGHTS AGAIN!
MENU
Hamburger Steak
Rice and Gravy
Fried Shrimp
Kielbasa and Bratwurst
Roast Beef
Bread
Cheese and Grapes
Desserts
Sweet Tea / Water
Didn't have any cocktail sauce for the shrimp, but we did have ketchup and Horseradish sauce, so.....we made FBC Special Sauce! It was actually pretty good. I snuck a little TEXAS PETE in it. Shocker.
QUICK STORY
When I pulled the beef stew broth out of the fridge, I gave it the standard look'n sniff to make sure it was good. Seemed fine. Got it on the stove warming and being stirred. After a while I got Elaine to put a little in a bowl to see how it was.
It wasn't good. There was a strong, kind of sharp mint or mediciney taste to it. so I asked Elaine to try it.
She said it was fine.
?
So I got Andy to taste it.
He said it was fine.
??
Tried Tyler.
He said it tasted better than last week.
???
Two more people and they all said it was fine.
I was afraid that it had absorbed something funky in the fridge (although the fridge smelled fine and was clean), but everybody said it was fine. I had even taken stuff to make gravy because I was sure everyone would agree with me.
So I said Fine we'll use it.
Later, when I pulled it off the stove and looked it into and stirred it, it hit me like a ton of bricks.
Carrots.
What I thought was a bad taste was simply the influence of carrots, which had gotten stronger as it sat for a week.
I didn't know what carrots tasted like!
I don't like carrots. I don't eat them. I guarantee you 99.99 per cent of any carrots ever entering my system has been the direct result of Carrot cake.
Everyone else didn't taste anything wrong because they had eaten carrots before.
I realize this does not reflect well on me, but don't hold it against my parents.........
Thursday, October 21, 2010
....I'll tell you next time.
MARK / T.J. / ZUPON! / JOHANNA / DON / TANYA / ZOEY / CHARLES / CHUCK / LUKE / BRETT / SARAH / MARY ANNE / EMILY / PAUL / DANIEL / MALLORY / SHAUN / BROOKE / TYLER / JACOB / LONDON / TYLER / BLAKE /MACKENZIE / TREY / MS. BONGIORNIO / ELLIE / BRIEN / TWIG / DAVID / JENNA / SANDRA / BETTY / CREEEEECH! / STEVE / ELAINE / ANDREW / SAM / ANDY ....in addition to being a huge crowd (41), this was also an All-Star crowd when it came to cooking and serving to meet other peoples needs.
STEW BEEF MASHED POTATOES GREEN BEANS ROLLS DESSERT SWEET TEA / WATER
Every time I turned around, more people kept walking in tonight. The names in orange are kids that go to New Hanover, which is my school where I am an FCA sponsor. It was good to see them come out and help. I didn't even know they were coming. Speaking of which.....
Here's a story you can file under "GREAT MINDS THINK ALIKE".....
I was on my way down to the church from the AC and was thirsty, so I hit the only drive thru on the way - Checkers. I'm in the middle of getting my Diet Coke and the phone rings. It's Paul Fleck, one of my FCA guys. So I answer and he says We're coming tonight to help feed. Where do we go?
I start to tell him how to get to the church and I pull away from the window and go left across the front of the joint (they have the drive thru on both sides) and I start hearing yelling through my phone and outside the truck. I look over and they're sitting in the other drive thru!
Paul said he hadn't been to Checkers in 3 years and just decided to stop on the way.
How's that for random?
Zoey brought her mom, Tanya, with her tonight.
Elaine has gotten so good at making the Sweet Tea, she's now totally in charge of it and I use her to teach new people how to do it. My role now is just to taste it when they're done. She also knows exactly what to with our desserts (slice, bag, wrap, etc.) so we can best distribute them. Love Elaine.
Plus, she keeps reminding me it's time for ScaryGary Movie Night now that Halloween is close. Last year's was a great time.
Twig was back this week after being ghone on a mission trip to Guatemala last week. It was a good trip. I'm jealous because they had 3 tremors while they were there (3!). I've always wanted to feel a tremor.(_______________________________________Insert your own joke here)
We always do a traditional Turkey/dressing/cranberry meal the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. Knowing that there are lots of people who donate food after during and after the holidays, we worry that they might get "Turkey'd" out and whether we should switch up to something else. It's a lot of fun for us to do the Turkey thing but maybe they'd rather have something else.
So I asked them.
I had a minute to kill while we were waiting for the stew beef to come up from the kitchen so I told them what I just told you, then asked for a show of hands if they wanted traditional or something different.
What do you think won?..........
STEW BEEF MASHED POTATOES GREEN BEANS ROLLS DESSERT SWEET TEA / WATER
Every time I turned around, more people kept walking in tonight. The names in orange are kids that go to New Hanover, which is my school where I am an FCA sponsor. It was good to see them come out and help. I didn't even know they were coming. Speaking of which.....
Here's a story you can file under "GREAT MINDS THINK ALIKE".....
I was on my way down to the church from the AC and was thirsty, so I hit the only drive thru on the way - Checkers. I'm in the middle of getting my Diet Coke and the phone rings. It's Paul Fleck, one of my FCA guys. So I answer and he says We're coming tonight to help feed. Where do we go?
I start to tell him how to get to the church and I pull away from the window and go left across the front of the joint (they have the drive thru on both sides) and I start hearing yelling through my phone and outside the truck. I look over and they're sitting in the other drive thru!
Paul said he hadn't been to Checkers in 3 years and just decided to stop on the way.
How's that for random?
Zoey brought her mom, Tanya, with her tonight.
Elaine has gotten so good at making the Sweet Tea, she's now totally in charge of it and I use her to teach new people how to do it. My role now is just to taste it when they're done. She also knows exactly what to with our desserts (slice, bag, wrap, etc.) so we can best distribute them. Love Elaine.
Plus, she keeps reminding me it's time for ScaryGary Movie Night now that Halloween is close. Last year's was a great time.
Twig was back this week after being ghone on a mission trip to Guatemala last week. It was a good trip. I'm jealous because they had 3 tremors while they were there (3!). I've always wanted to feel a tremor.(_______________________________________Insert your own joke here)
We always do a traditional Turkey/dressing/cranberry meal the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. Knowing that there are lots of people who donate food after during and after the holidays, we worry that they might get "Turkey'd" out and whether we should switch up to something else. It's a lot of fun for us to do the Turkey thing but maybe they'd rather have something else.
So I asked them.
I had a minute to kill while we were waiting for the stew beef to come up from the kitchen so I told them what I just told you, then asked for a show of hands if they wanted traditional or something different.
What do you think won?..........
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Stew beef, Mashed Potatoes, Green Beans, Dinner rolls and dessert.
Working the "comfort food angle" tonight. Check back to see how it went.
Getting pressure from the college guys to pull the trigger on a Griiled cheese spaghetti sandwich night.
Which I really like, but I have learned over the years that things I "really" like aren't always "widely" liked,sooooo.......we'll see.
Working the "comfort food angle" tonight. Check back to see how it went.
Getting pressure from the college guys to pull the trigger on a Griiled cheese spaghetti sandwich night.
Which I really like, but I have learned over the years that things I "really" like aren't always "widely" liked,sooooo.......we'll see.
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
....too easy and too cheap to be that good
So.....I had last week's post half written, full of names and menu items and all the things we offered to put on the Hot Dogs, and funny incidents. I saved it to come back and finish on Wednesday morning and then.....???? The rest of the week happened and I never finished it. Probably would have been the best ever but now we will probably never know.
Oh well.
BUT THIS WEEK WAS JUST AS AWESOME!
Just ask....
LONDON / SEAN / ELAINE / CECELIA / VIRGINIA / PAT / CHUCK / WAYNE / STEVE / BLAKE / PEYSON / T. J. / SAM / ANDY / ZOE / DALIA / MAC / KELSEY / ALEXANDRA / MS. BONGIORNIO / BRIANNA / TYLER / J.BOGGS / BRITTANY / DON / LAUREN / SHARICE / ....
because they are the ones who cooked
LEMON PEPPER CHICKEN
BUTTER NOODLES
GREEN BEANS AND POTATOES
DINNER ROLLS
DESSERT
SWEET TEA / WATER
and did a great job.
It was another day for "Game time decision" on what to cook. It was 4:30 and I was in HarrisTeeter waffling between kielbasa and chicken. I finally decided on chicken, mainly because on Sunday I told Elaine that's probably what we'd do. That, plus the fact that kielbasa was running $2.25/lb. and chicken was $ .99/lb.
London Paulson got a quick how-to on using a meat cleaver to separate leg quarters. After about the 3rd one he realized what most people do; chopping stuff with a big knife is fun.
There's a million ways to do it, but here's how we made Lemon Peppper Chicken last night:
Separate the leg quarters
Wash it
Dry it
Pan it
Put a pat of butter on top of each piece
Hit 'em with the lemon pepper seasoning
Bake for 20 at 400
Take them out and squirt a little TEXAS PETE on them
bake for another 20 - 30 minutes.
Done.
The butter melts and browns up and helps crisp the chicken. The TEXAS PETE just makes something good even better.
The number we've fed the past couple of weeks has gone down a little, mostly at the 2nd stop. The first stop continues to be 35 + at the start.
If you see STEVE LEGER this week, get him to tell you his story about the birds on the golf course. He had us rolling. Matter of fact, don't wait 'til you see him. Call him up and get him to tell it to you. It's that funny!
About 14 kids from Hoggard High School's Key club came last week as part of a service project. This week, 4 of them came back just because they liked doing it so much last week! Gotta love that.
Slowly getting over the old truck being gone but it's tough. The new truck doesn't have power windows or locks,so every time I have to roll the window or lock the door, I'm reminded of the old FORD.
Good times, good times......
Butter noodles are like Instant Mashed Potatoes, Cookout, and NETFLIX.....
Oh well.
BUT THIS WEEK WAS JUST AS AWESOME!
Just ask....
LONDON / SEAN / ELAINE / CECELIA / VIRGINIA / PAT / CHUCK / WAYNE / STEVE / BLAKE / PEYSON / T. J. / SAM / ANDY / ZOE / DALIA / MAC / KELSEY / ALEXANDRA / MS. BONGIORNIO / BRIANNA / TYLER / J.BOGGS / BRITTANY / DON / LAUREN / SHARICE / ....
because they are the ones who cooked
LEMON PEPPER CHICKEN
BUTTER NOODLES
GREEN BEANS AND POTATOES
DINNER ROLLS
DESSERT
SWEET TEA / WATER
and did a great job.
It was another day for "Game time decision" on what to cook. It was 4:30 and I was in HarrisTeeter waffling between kielbasa and chicken. I finally decided on chicken, mainly because on Sunday I told Elaine that's probably what we'd do. That, plus the fact that kielbasa was running $2.25/lb. and chicken was $ .99/lb.
London Paulson got a quick how-to on using a meat cleaver to separate leg quarters. After about the 3rd one he realized what most people do; chopping stuff with a big knife is fun.
There's a million ways to do it, but here's how we made Lemon Peppper Chicken last night:
Separate the leg quarters
Wash it
Dry it
Pan it
Put a pat of butter on top of each piece
Hit 'em with the lemon pepper seasoning
Bake for 20 at 400
Take them out and squirt a little TEXAS PETE on them
bake for another 20 - 30 minutes.
Done.
The butter melts and browns up and helps crisp the chicken. The TEXAS PETE just makes something good even better.
The number we've fed the past couple of weeks has gone down a little, mostly at the 2nd stop. The first stop continues to be 35 + at the start.
If you see STEVE LEGER this week, get him to tell you his story about the birds on the golf course. He had us rolling. Matter of fact, don't wait 'til you see him. Call him up and get him to tell it to you. It's that funny!
About 14 kids from Hoggard High School's Key club came last week as part of a service project. This week, 4 of them came back just because they liked doing it so much last week! Gotta love that.
Slowly getting over the old truck being gone but it's tough. The new truck doesn't have power windows or locks,so every time I have to roll the window or lock the door, I'm reminded of the old FORD.
Good times, good times......
Butter noodles are like Instant Mashed Potatoes, Cookout, and NETFLIX.....
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
ELAINE / SAM / JUSTIN / ANDY / TYLER / HAYLEY / DON / MITCH / HAMPTON / TWIG / WAYNE / ELLYN / WADE / T.J. / MARK / BRIANNA / JOHANNA / ALEXIS / CREEEEEECH! / ALEXANDRA / BRIEN / CHARLES / MRS. BONGIORNIO / SHELBY / BLAKE / STEVE / LONDON / SHAUN / did not let a little rain keep them from being God's hands and feet .
What did we have tonight?
Better question- What didn't we have?
God put so much food in our hands this week, we were able to be incredibly generous.
We had our meal and we were able to give people a bag lunch for the next day that was crammed with stuff
MENU
CHEESEBURGERS POTATO CHIPS DESSERT SWEET TEA/WATER
BAG LUNCH
Turkey, Ham, or Roast Beef sandwich
Slice of Pizza
Hot Dog
Bag of Chips
Bag of Cookies
There was a large retreat at Ft. Caswell this weekend we took the youth group. One of the thing I helped with was cooking Hot dogs and Hamburgers for supper for the 1100 people that were there. We had quite a few left over and they gave them to me to use on Tuesday Night. We also brought back the unused chips and cookies. So Tonight we had approx. 250 hamburger patties ready to go for supper. We put out the usuals - ketchup, mustard, mayonnaise, but we also had onions, tomatoes, TEXAS PETE, pickles, banana peppers, and red peppers.
Brett Queen donated 40 Panera Bread sandwiches from a catered event, which we used in the to go bags, along with several pizzas.
John Liverman also brought a pan of roast pork from his Rotary Club luncheon that we used.
The rain had us eating inside, which means we started a little earlier than usual. the rain also kept the numbers down, but not by very much.
People have asked about clothing and blankets the past 3 weeks. We have not collected any this year so far. I usually wait until after October to put out a call for items. Might need to start earlier ths year.
The new truck is doing okay. I miss the old one, though. If you've read past blogs, you've noticed I'm not the biggest fan of change when it comes to physical things. Once something gets broke in and works for me, my inclination is to hold on to it forever.
We made take-out boxes for the second stop because of the chance of rain. Bad call. We were fine. Should've done it the regular way. We hardly ever get rained on at the Mercy House. Even the guys in line commented that the rain always seems to stop before we get there.
Twig made it back after being gone for a few weeks. He went to Alska and then came back for his son's Graduation Exercise from Army Boot camp in Oklahoma. His son's name is Justin but I hung "Sprig" on him a couple of years ago and it stuck.
We're all very proud of him.
What did we have tonight?
Better question- What didn't we have?
God put so much food in our hands this week, we were able to be incredibly generous.
We had our meal and we were able to give people a bag lunch for the next day that was crammed with stuff
MENU
CHEESEBURGERS POTATO CHIPS DESSERT SWEET TEA/WATER
BAG LUNCH
Turkey, Ham, or Roast Beef sandwich
Slice of Pizza
Hot Dog
Bag of Chips
Bag of Cookies
There was a large retreat at Ft. Caswell this weekend we took the youth group. One of the thing I helped with was cooking Hot dogs and Hamburgers for supper for the 1100 people that were there. We had quite a few left over and they gave them to me to use on Tuesday Night. We also brought back the unused chips and cookies. So Tonight we had approx. 250 hamburger patties ready to go for supper. We put out the usuals - ketchup, mustard, mayonnaise, but we also had onions, tomatoes, TEXAS PETE, pickles, banana peppers, and red peppers.
Brett Queen donated 40 Panera Bread sandwiches from a catered event, which we used in the to go bags, along with several pizzas.
John Liverman also brought a pan of roast pork from his Rotary Club luncheon that we used.
The rain had us eating inside, which means we started a little earlier than usual. the rain also kept the numbers down, but not by very much.
People have asked about clothing and blankets the past 3 weeks. We have not collected any this year so far. I usually wait until after October to put out a call for items. Might need to start earlier ths year.
The new truck is doing okay. I miss the old one, though. If you've read past blogs, you've noticed I'm not the biggest fan of change when it comes to physical things. Once something gets broke in and works for me, my inclination is to hold on to it forever.
We made take-out boxes for the second stop because of the chance of rain. Bad call. We were fine. Should've done it the regular way. We hardly ever get rained on at the Mercy House. Even the guys in line commented that the rain always seems to stop before we get there.
Twig made it back after being gone for a few weeks. He went to Alska and then came back for his son's Graduation Exercise from Army Boot camp in Oklahoma. His son's name is Justin but I hung "Sprig" on him a couple of years ago and it stuck.
We're all very proud of him.
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Tuesday 9/21
ELAINE / CHAMBERLAIN / JOHANNA / WAYNE / BLAKE / STEVE / ANNA / BRIEN / DON / VICK / ANDY / TYLER / DAVID / EMILY /
MS. BONGIORNIO / HER MOM SHELBY / CHUCK / CHARLES put the smackdown on some Grilled cheese and tomato soup tonight.
GRILLED CHEESE
TOMATO SOUP
HOME FRIES
DESSERT
SWEET TEA/WATER
Tonight was a really good night with a lot of cool things happening, but right from the start we got tough news. We found out that T.J. Alexander, who comes every week, was in the hospital at that moment having an emergency appendectomy. We took a moment to pray for him and his family. We got word later that night that he came through fine and everything was going to be all right.
We made 180 grilled cheese sandwiches tonight.
Not an easy feat, considering every slice of bread has to be buttered, each one has to be flipped and watched and the griddle maxes out at at about 12 at a time. I put Andy on griddle duty and he worked it like a champ. The folks buttering and assembling were great, too.
When Danielle Bongiornio's mom came in tonight with her mom, they became the first 4 generation family represented on Tuesday nights. I wished I'd had a plaque ready or something. That's kinda cool.
It goes: Shelby(grandmom) Ms. Bongiornio, Danielle and her sisters Jessica and Mac, and Jessica's daughter Ellie.
Guess how many sandwiches we had leftover? ZERO!
The last person in line got the last sandwich. (we were giving out two the first time through so they wouldn't have to wait for seconds on them.) That's pretty much God at work, because we had prepared all the regular bread and at the last minute we went back and did another 2 loaves of wheat bread and because of that, we nailed it. Of course that meant there were none left for Tyler and Blake to eat but we had some tomato soup left and that was good enough.
The new truck did okay. It's a 2003 Ford. It sits lower than the other one. Just saying.....
I continue to be amazed at the number of people showing up at the first stop. We used to get started with maybe 10-15 there. Now there's at least 30 people there every week when we say grace.
Vick Griffin came and shot some video footage to use at the multi-church "Imagine Hope" conference that's being held at FBC this fall. He also helped cook and serve.
Don took pictures tonight also. I'll try to get them on soon.
MS. BONGIORNIO / HER MOM SHELBY / CHUCK / CHARLES put the smackdown on some Grilled cheese and tomato soup tonight.
GRILLED CHEESE
TOMATO SOUP
HOME FRIES
DESSERT
SWEET TEA/WATER
Tonight was a really good night with a lot of cool things happening, but right from the start we got tough news. We found out that T.J. Alexander, who comes every week, was in the hospital at that moment having an emergency appendectomy. We took a moment to pray for him and his family. We got word later that night that he came through fine and everything was going to be all right.
We made 180 grilled cheese sandwiches tonight.
Not an easy feat, considering every slice of bread has to be buttered, each one has to be flipped and watched and the griddle maxes out at at about 12 at a time. I put Andy on griddle duty and he worked it like a champ. The folks buttering and assembling were great, too.
When Danielle Bongiornio's mom came in tonight with her mom, they became the first 4 generation family represented on Tuesday nights. I wished I'd had a plaque ready or something. That's kinda cool.
It goes: Shelby(grandmom) Ms. Bongiornio, Danielle and her sisters Jessica and Mac, and Jessica's daughter Ellie.
Guess how many sandwiches we had leftover? ZERO!
The last person in line got the last sandwich. (we were giving out two the first time through so they wouldn't have to wait for seconds on them.) That's pretty much God at work, because we had prepared all the regular bread and at the last minute we went back and did another 2 loaves of wheat bread and because of that, we nailed it. Of course that meant there were none left for Tyler and Blake to eat but we had some tomato soup left and that was good enough.
The new truck did okay. It's a 2003 Ford. It sits lower than the other one. Just saying.....
I continue to be amazed at the number of people showing up at the first stop. We used to get started with maybe 10-15 there. Now there's at least 30 people there every week when we say grace.
Vick Griffin came and shot some video footage to use at the multi-church "Imagine Hope" conference that's being held at FBC this fall. He also helped cook and serve.
Don took pictures tonight also. I'll try to get them on soon.
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Couple of things about tonight......
It's looking like grilled cheese and tomato soup tonight! YUM. YUM. YUM.
We've got a new truck! Actually the church got a new truck but we use it every week and look at it as part of the family, so.....we've got a new truck!
It was put in the shop because the right front brake was feeling and sounding bad. They looked at it and said it would be $1800 to fix because they found a bunch of other brake and wheel related problems. The choice of the property management committee was fix and keep it long term or get something else. "Get something else" won. They traded it in and we got a 2003.
I'm kinda sad, though. I liked that truck. That truck had been with us since we started.
In honor of the service the truck gave us all these years, I'm going to tell a story about the truck.....plus it's a funny story and needs to be told every so often.
A couple of months into this ministry, back when it was still pretty much just me, Skyler, Jonathan, Mason, Drew and Colby, we loaded up the truck at The Activity Center and got ready to take our stuff downtown. The tailgate on the truck was a little hinky and you had to slam it good to make sure it was shut. We had two 8 ft. portable tables (the brown ones that took 2 people to carry), and 4 rectangular coolers with ice, drinks(this was back when we served canned drinks every week), and our food in the back. I was driving the truck and everyone else was in Jonathan's explorer.
As I pulled off out of the parking lot, I heard a large thump. I looked and saw someone had left a cooler on top of another and it had slid off. It wasn't the first time.
When we finished that night we loaded up to come back and one of the guys shut the tailgate. I said Did you slam it? They said Yeah.
I was in front of them at the stoplight at Dawson and 17th. When I pulled off I heard another thump. I thought Who keeps stacking coolers on top of each other?
I drove on to the A.C. and pulled around to back to unload. I got out and started to reach in the back to grab a cooler and....nothing. There wasn't a single thing in the back of the truck! NOTHING!
Aw crap.
So I jump in the truck and head back the way I came. When I get to the intersection of Independence and College, I see Jonathan's Explorer coming towards me, loaded down with everything I had lost.
They were still laughing and howling when they got out of his car.
Here's what happened:
When I took off at the light, one of the coolers slid and hit the tailgate, knocking it open (the thump I heard). The bed of the truck had a plastic liner which was fairly slick and when the tailgate went down, the tables now had nothing to keep them from sliding out, did exactly that. And tthe tables took all four coolers with them, right there in the middle of the intersection, in front of Jonathan and the other guys.
So now there's 4 coolers and 2 tables strowed across the intersection. A car comes through and slams into one of the coolers, knocking the top off the hinges. The guys pull over and start trying to get things out of the intersection. The ice cooler has upended and spilled out and Mason slips in it and goes feet up flat on his back in the middle of the road! They're laughing at that, laughing at the situation in general, trying not to get run over, wondering why I don't know everything fell out of the truck, trying to get it all loaded....just a big chaotic adventure.
The tables survived. The coolers were okay, except for the one that got hit, but we still used it. Mason had a nice bruise but was fine. I got the tailgate fixed and a reminder of the need to check everything myself before we pull out.
R.I.P. 1993 Ford truck
We've got a new truck! Actually the church got a new truck but we use it every week and look at it as part of the family, so.....we've got a new truck!
It was put in the shop because the right front brake was feeling and sounding bad. They looked at it and said it would be $1800 to fix because they found a bunch of other brake and wheel related problems. The choice of the property management committee was fix and keep it long term or get something else. "Get something else" won. They traded it in and we got a 2003.
I'm kinda sad, though. I liked that truck. That truck had been with us since we started.
In honor of the service the truck gave us all these years, I'm going to tell a story about the truck.....plus it's a funny story and needs to be told every so often.
A couple of months into this ministry, back when it was still pretty much just me, Skyler, Jonathan, Mason, Drew and Colby, we loaded up the truck at The Activity Center and got ready to take our stuff downtown. The tailgate on the truck was a little hinky and you had to slam it good to make sure it was shut. We had two 8 ft. portable tables (the brown ones that took 2 people to carry), and 4 rectangular coolers with ice, drinks(this was back when we served canned drinks every week), and our food in the back. I was driving the truck and everyone else was in Jonathan's explorer.
As I pulled off out of the parking lot, I heard a large thump. I looked and saw someone had left a cooler on top of another and it had slid off. It wasn't the first time.
When we finished that night we loaded up to come back and one of the guys shut the tailgate. I said Did you slam it? They said Yeah.
I was in front of them at the stoplight at Dawson and 17th. When I pulled off I heard another thump. I thought Who keeps stacking coolers on top of each other?
I drove on to the A.C. and pulled around to back to unload. I got out and started to reach in the back to grab a cooler and....nothing. There wasn't a single thing in the back of the truck! NOTHING!
Aw crap.
So I jump in the truck and head back the way I came. When I get to the intersection of Independence and College, I see Jonathan's Explorer coming towards me, loaded down with everything I had lost.
They were still laughing and howling when they got out of his car.
Here's what happened:
When I took off at the light, one of the coolers slid and hit the tailgate, knocking it open (the thump I heard). The bed of the truck had a plastic liner which was fairly slick and when the tailgate went down, the tables now had nothing to keep them from sliding out, did exactly that. And tthe tables took all four coolers with them, right there in the middle of the intersection, in front of Jonathan and the other guys.
So now there's 4 coolers and 2 tables strowed across the intersection. A car comes through and slams into one of the coolers, knocking the top off the hinges. The guys pull over and start trying to get things out of the intersection. The ice cooler has upended and spilled out and Mason slips in it and goes feet up flat on his back in the middle of the road! They're laughing at that, laughing at the situation in general, trying not to get run over, wondering why I don't know everything fell out of the truck, trying to get it all loaded....just a big chaotic adventure.
The tables survived. The coolers were okay, except for the one that got hit, but we still used it. Mason had a nice bruise but was fine. I got the tailgate fixed and a reminder of the need to check everything myself before we pull out.
R.I.P. 1993 Ford truck
Tuesday Sept 14
ELAINE / EMILY /CECELIA / JOHANNA / KAYLA / CAITLYN / KILLER / BRYANNA / LAUREN / LINDSAY / TYLER / MARK / T.J. / WADE / ALYSSA / ELLYN / MORGZILLA / DAVID / DON / STEVE / BLAKE / J. BOGGS / CHUCK /
MENU
HOT DOGS
GREEN BEANS
MASHED POTATOES with GRAVY
DESSERT
SWEET TEA / WATER
The #of people that we feed at the first stop jumped up over the summer and continues to stay there. There has been at least 30 people waiting in line when we say grace for several weeks now. Then another 15 or 20 walk up. That's huge for the first stop.
It has made us more aware of portion size and forces us to keep an eye on how much we have to make sure that we've got enough for the 2nd stop.
The menu components might seem a little odd at first glance, but it worked for us. It made for full plates, we had it on hand and we could involve lots of people in the prep and the serving.
Most of my regular adults were not there last night. I missed Wayne, Twig, Brien, Anna, Teresa, Teresa, and Mitch. But Don ( an irregular adult if there ever was one) showed up and we managed. It was tougher without them. Plus the truck's in the shop, so everything about transporting was a little different. And both long tables and a short table decided to just fall apart in different ways. It's funny how everything can be thrown off in big ways when a few little things change.
We'll make it though.
MENU
HOT DOGS
GREEN BEANS
MASHED POTATOES with GRAVY
DESSERT
SWEET TEA / WATER
The #of people that we feed at the first stop jumped up over the summer and continues to stay there. There has been at least 30 people waiting in line when we say grace for several weeks now. Then another 15 or 20 walk up. That's huge for the first stop.
It has made us more aware of portion size and forces us to keep an eye on how much we have to make sure that we've got enough for the 2nd stop.
The menu components might seem a little odd at first glance, but it worked for us. It made for full plates, we had it on hand and we could involve lots of people in the prep and the serving.
Most of my regular adults were not there last night. I missed Wayne, Twig, Brien, Anna, Teresa, Teresa, and Mitch. But Don ( an irregular adult if there ever was one) showed up and we managed. It was tougher without them. Plus the truck's in the shop, so everything about transporting was a little different. And both long tables and a short table decided to just fall apart in different ways. It's funny how everything can be thrown off in big ways when a few little things change.
We'll make it though.
Friday, September 10, 2010
Tuesday 7, 2010
5 onions, 5 lbs of dry kidney beans, 10 lbs of kielbasa, 15 lbs of chicken breasts, 15 lbs of rice, some Old Bay, a little Gumbo File and a big pot of water. That's what we used to make our CHICKEN BOG Tuesday night.
We wound up with close to 14 gallons of it and were scraping the bottom of the cooler at the end of the night.
We served it with a couple of slices of light bread and had TEXAS PETE and cheese if you wanted it.
Now, as much as i love cheese, I don't want it on something like Chicken Bog, but nearly the folks coming through the line did.
Menu
CHICKEN BOG/LIGHT BREAD/DESSERT/SWEET TEA/WATER and Little Debbie Blackberry pies to hand out as they left.
PEYSON / MERRITT / ELLYN / T.J. / MARK / TYLER / ANDY / ANNA / BLAKE / STEVE / WAYNE / BRIEN / JESSICA / ELLIE / MAC / MRS. BONGIORNIO / CRUMP / ALYSSA / ELAINE / TREY / ASHLEY / KILLER / LAUREN / LINDSEY put thoughts into actions and words into service this week.
Danielle Bongiornio was one of our regulars who went off to college this year. She's a freshman playing basketball at Lenoir-Rhyne. The week before she left for school, she brought her two sisters (one older, one younger) with her so they could see what she's been doing on Tuesday nights for the past couple of years. That was a really neat thing. But the really cool thing is ....they've been coming ever since!
This past week they brought their Mom! It was like having 3 Danielle's with us. I hope they keep coming.
We wound up with close to 14 gallons of it and were scraping the bottom of the cooler at the end of the night.
We served it with a couple of slices of light bread and had TEXAS PETE and cheese if you wanted it.
Now, as much as i love cheese, I don't want it on something like Chicken Bog, but nearly the folks coming through the line did.
Menu
CHICKEN BOG/LIGHT BREAD/DESSERT/SWEET TEA/WATER and Little Debbie Blackberry pies to hand out as they left.
PEYSON / MERRITT / ELLYN / T.J. / MARK / TYLER / ANDY / ANNA / BLAKE / STEVE / WAYNE / BRIEN / JESSICA / ELLIE / MAC / MRS. BONGIORNIO / CRUMP / ALYSSA / ELAINE / TREY / ASHLEY / KILLER / LAUREN / LINDSEY put thoughts into actions and words into service this week.
Danielle Bongiornio was one of our regulars who went off to college this year. She's a freshman playing basketball at Lenoir-Rhyne. The week before she left for school, she brought her two sisters (one older, one younger) with her so they could see what she's been doing on Tuesday nights for the past couple of years. That was a really neat thing. But the really cool thing is ....they've been coming ever since!
This past week they brought their Mom! It was like having 3 Danielle's with us. I hope they keep coming.
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
The plan for tonight....
...is CHICKEN BOG.
Never made it.
Chicken and Pastry - done it.
Chicken and rice- done it.
Chicken Bog?
I'll let you know how it goes.
Maybe J. BOGGS knows how to make it.
Never made it.
Chicken and Pastry - done it.
Chicken and rice- done it.
Chicken Bog?
I'll let you know how it goes.
Maybe J. BOGGS knows how to make it.
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Tuesday August 24, 2010
We had the smallest volunteer turnout in a long time tonight on what might have been the night where we had the most people come through the line in a long time. Pretty sure we had right at 100 people come through the line tonight.
Public school starts back tomorrow so that probably accounts for the light turnout of youth. We had one of our women's bible study groups helping us tonight, too. They did a great job.
We have talked about doing burritos for a long time but never pulled the trigger on it. Tonight we pulled the trigger and hit the bulls-eye. They were good, we had plenty and our friends loved them.
The womens bible study helped cook and serve at the first stop, but weren't going to the 2nd stop. A couple of youth had to leave because of school the next day. When we loaded up to go serve at the second stop we only had 5 people going to serve a meal that had a lot of items on the table to be served. That could make things tough and slow it down. As we were pulling out to go, Kelsey and Alexis pulled up. They had been at a meeting and were running late.That made 7. When we got to the Mercy House, Blake Leger and his dad Steve rolled up, giving us 9.
No problem. Give me 9 and we can knock any serving job out.
It's pretty amazing to look back at the end of a night and realize you've put food in the hands of over 100 people. It's also pretty amazing the way God continually puts the means and the resources in our hands to do this every Tuesday.
Public school starts back tomorrow so that probably accounts for the light turnout of youth. We had one of our women's bible study groups helping us tonight, too. They did a great job.
We have talked about doing burritos for a long time but never pulled the trigger on it. Tonight we pulled the trigger and hit the bulls-eye. They were good, we had plenty and our friends loved them.
The womens bible study helped cook and serve at the first stop, but weren't going to the 2nd stop. A couple of youth had to leave because of school the next day. When we loaded up to go serve at the second stop we only had 5 people going to serve a meal that had a lot of items on the table to be served. That could make things tough and slow it down. As we were pulling out to go, Kelsey and Alexis pulled up. They had been at a meeting and were running late.That made 7. When we got to the Mercy House, Blake Leger and his dad Steve rolled up, giving us 9.
No problem. Give me 9 and we can knock any serving job out.
It's pretty amazing to look back at the end of a night and realize you've put food in the hands of over 100 people. It's also pretty amazing the way God continually puts the means and the resources in our hands to do this every Tuesday.
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
TRYING TO CATCH UP.........
(. This was written last Tuesday but went into SAVE instead of POST. My bad. Tonight was pretty amazing. Tell you about it tomorrow. I'll put up the post for tonight tomorrow. Got all that? )
I know I've been slack the past couple of weeks about posting.
No excuses.
No apologies, either.
Two tuesdays ago a youth group from Gastonia was in town and came down to help us. They did a good job. We had spaghetti.
This past week Kelly Leger brought her Youth Group from Wrightsville Beach Methodist to help us. Kelly and her family were members of our church befors she accepted the position at Wrightsville Beach last year. Her husband Steve and son Blake still come and help every week. They planned the menu and we had Sloppy Joes, which is always a big hit with out crowd. Johnny Liverman also brought down some baked chicken and barbecue. We took that and made sandwiches for them to take for their lunch the next day.
I like it when we have something they can put in their hands as they leave.
This was our last week before all the colleges started up and over the last couple of weeks we've had to say "adios"* to all the graduated seniors heading off to college and our college kids going back. It was kind of sad but exciting , too, because I can picture some of them taking initiative and doing something like this where they go to school. I tried to put the seed in their mind and even offered to come up and do it with them one night. Who knows?
SLOPPY JOES POTATO CHIPS WATERMELON DESSERTS SWEET TEA/WATER
and BAKED CHICKEN/BARBECUE SANDWICHES for lunch the next day.
Danielle Bongiorno has been a regular for a couple of years now, whenever basketball wasn't in season. This was her last week before she headed off to Lenoir-Rhyne to attend school and play basketball. She brought her sisters Jessica and Mac to show them where she goes and what she does on Tuesday Nights. And what she does as well as anybody is smile and interact. all of our friends like it when she sits down and spends time with them. W
We're going to miss her.
DANIELLE / JESSICA / MAC / HAYLEY / CHRIS / TYLER / MARK / T.J. / PEYSON / HAMPTON / BLAKE / BRYCE / CHAMBERLAIN / WAYNE / MITCH / ANNA / JON / TWIG / THE GROUP FROM WRIGHTSVILLE BEACH METHODIST /
I know I've been slack the past couple of weeks about posting.
No excuses.
No apologies, either.
Two tuesdays ago a youth group from Gastonia was in town and came down to help us. They did a good job. We had spaghetti.
This past week Kelly Leger brought her Youth Group from Wrightsville Beach Methodist to help us. Kelly and her family were members of our church befors she accepted the position at Wrightsville Beach last year. Her husband Steve and son Blake still come and help every week. They planned the menu and we had Sloppy Joes, which is always a big hit with out crowd. Johnny Liverman also brought down some baked chicken and barbecue. We took that and made sandwiches for them to take for their lunch the next day.
I like it when we have something they can put in their hands as they leave.
This was our last week before all the colleges started up and over the last couple of weeks we've had to say "adios"* to all the graduated seniors heading off to college and our college kids going back. It was kind of sad but exciting , too, because I can picture some of them taking initiative and doing something like this where they go to school. I tried to put the seed in their mind and even offered to come up and do it with them one night. Who knows?
SLOPPY JOES POTATO CHIPS WATERMELON DESSERTS SWEET TEA/WATER
and BAKED CHICKEN/BARBECUE SANDWICHES for lunch the next day.
Danielle Bongiorno has been a regular for a couple of years now, whenever basketball wasn't in season. This was her last week before she headed off to Lenoir-Rhyne to attend school and play basketball. She brought her sisters Jessica and Mac to show them where she goes and what she does on Tuesday Nights. And what she does as well as anybody is smile and interact. all of our friends like it when she sits down and spends time with them. W
We're going to miss her.
DANIELLE / JESSICA / MAC / HAYLEY / CHRIS / TYLER / MARK / T.J. / PEYSON / HAMPTON / BLAKE / BRYCE / CHAMBERLAIN / WAYNE / MITCH / ANNA / JON / TWIG / THE GROUP FROM WRIGHTSVILLE BEACH METHODIST /
Monday, August 2, 2010
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Gotta be quick so I can crash. Doctor Appointment tomorrow at 9 a.am.
It's late and I'll post more tomorrow, but I wanted to put something up tonight before I crashed.
Tonight was really, really, good. For lots of reasons; some I can put my finger on and explain, and for others that I won't do justice to and you just had to be there to feel and experience it.
It just felt good to be there. Good ........and right.
My sister Sherry and her husband Dave came down from Fayetteville with my nephews Jonathan and Daniel to help us tonight. She's been wanting to bring them for a while and finally got a chance this week. I really enjoyed them being there tonight.
Maggie Miller and Lauren Powell each brought 2 people with them tonight. I always try to remember to tell them what a great thing it is to bring people to share what God is doing and I tell them about Peter meeting Jesus because his brother Andrew brought him to him.
Taylor Campbell came tonight! I love Taylor Campbell!
We fixed cheeseburgers tonight.....Carolina style....Cole slaw, Chili, Mustard and Onions. Plus the usual other stuff if that's what you wanted.
Homemade Banana Pudding.
I'll leave you with that............
Tonight was really, really, good. For lots of reasons; some I can put my finger on and explain, and for others that I won't do justice to and you just had to be there to feel and experience it.
It just felt good to be there. Good ........and right.
My sister Sherry and her husband Dave came down from Fayetteville with my nephews Jonathan and Daniel to help us tonight. She's been wanting to bring them for a while and finally got a chance this week. I really enjoyed them being there tonight.
Maggie Miller and Lauren Powell each brought 2 people with them tonight. I always try to remember to tell them what a great thing it is to bring people to share what God is doing and I tell them about Peter meeting Jesus because his brother Andrew brought him to him.
Taylor Campbell came tonight! I love Taylor Campbell!
We fixed cheeseburgers tonight.....Carolina style....Cole slaw, Chili, Mustard and Onions. Plus the usual other stuff if that's what you wanted.
Homemade Banana Pudding.
I'll leave you with that............
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
3 TRIPS DOWN, 1 TO GO.......
Man.
I haven't posted since June 10.
But in my defense, I have been busy. I've been on trips to Beach Camp/Ft. Caswell (out of the COUNTY), Bimini (out of the COUNTRY) and Helena, Arkansas (out in the COUNTRY).
I've been gone most of the Tuesday nights, but I was there for the 2nd time this summer this past Tuesday.
We had open-faced sandwiches. They turned out great and we served out just about all of it.
BAILEY / DANIELLE / SAM / SEAN / ALEX / BRIEN / TWIG / MITCH / WAYNE / WADE / ELAINE / CECELIA / HAYLEY / CHUCK / SHANE / JOHN / MO-GAN / ALEXIS / ALEXANDRA / CREEEEECH! / EBY / T.J. / MARK / HAMPTON / were just the people I neede to see and be with on Tuesday.
Tyler Bordeaux is one of our regular workers on Tuesday night and was with me on the Helena Mission Trip last week, when he found out his Grandmother had passed away. The funeral was on Tuesday in New Jersey. Prayer for him and his family are greatly appreciated.
There were over 90 people served last week and almost that many this week. Unfortunately, that's the way the summers usually play out. More people needing more help.
I'll be here next Tuesday also, then leave for Guatemala on Thursday. Looking forward to heading back to the Guate for the 4th year in a row.
Love, Peace and chicken grease. g
I haven't posted since June 10.
But in my defense, I have been busy. I've been on trips to Beach Camp/Ft. Caswell (out of the COUNTY), Bimini (out of the COUNTRY) and Helena, Arkansas (out in the COUNTRY).
I've been gone most of the Tuesday nights, but I was there for the 2nd time this summer this past Tuesday.
We had open-faced sandwiches. They turned out great and we served out just about all of it.
BAILEY / DANIELLE / SAM / SEAN / ALEX / BRIEN / TWIG / MITCH / WAYNE / WADE / ELAINE / CECELIA / HAYLEY / CHUCK / SHANE / JOHN / MO-GAN / ALEXIS / ALEXANDRA / CREEEEECH! / EBY / T.J. / MARK / HAMPTON / were just the people I neede to see and be with on Tuesday.
Tyler Bordeaux is one of our regular workers on Tuesday night and was with me on the Helena Mission Trip last week, when he found out his Grandmother had passed away. The funeral was on Tuesday in New Jersey. Prayer for him and his family are greatly appreciated.
There were over 90 people served last week and almost that many this week. Unfortunately, that's the way the summers usually play out. More people needing more help.
I'll be here next Tuesday also, then leave for Guatemala on Thursday. Looking forward to heading back to the Guate for the 4th year in a row.
Love, Peace and chicken grease. g
Thursday, June 10, 2010
....one of the guys who invented Silly Bandz or the Wii.
I always expect Tuesday night to be good, but tonight was exceptionally good and for lots of reasons. I'll try to give you as many as I can remember.
First and most importantly, God's goodness and blessings. We had so much food to pass out last night. God provides us with so much great food it's unbelievable. And not leftovers we just reheat. Wonderful fresh stuff that our friends can tell was cooked specifically for them.
To be able to create and cook something, then put it in someone's hands for them to eat and have them come back and tell you how good it was and how much they appreciate you doing it, might be the biggest long term benefit kids get from this ministry. It's the kind of thing that makes an impression and sparks them to do (and lead) similar things when they go off to college and beyond.
Another great thing was a lot of people came and helped last night.
HOLT / KEVIN / CUTTER / MARCUS /CHRIS / CHRISTIAN / TYLER / CHRIS ADAMS / EBY / MARK / /HAMPTON / TJ / TWIG / MITCH / CHUCK (my new favorite person and hero!) / JAMIE / ELAINE / MADELYNE / MERRITT / CECELIA / JOHANNA / CAITLYN / KAYLA / ALEX / ALEXANDRA / BRIANNA / CREEEEECH! / ALEXIS / DAVID / STEPHANIE / TERESA F. / BRIEN / MARILYN / put faith into action by putting food in people's hands last night.
Teresa Fountain was able to obtain a tremendous amount of fruit and vegetables for last nights meal, which was :
CHICKEN SKEWERS
VEGETABLE SKEWERS
BAKED BEANS
DINNER ROLLS
CANTALOUPE SLICES
WATERMELON SLICES
PEACHES
DESSERT
WATER / SWEET TEA / GINGER ALE
It's been at least 4 years since we did any kind of kabobs or skewers, so last night was a real treat. The kitchen was a well oiled machine with people cutting and skewering, making tea, slicing watermelon and cantaloupe,washing dishes, etc.
We had cherry tomatoes, zucchini, squash, bell peppers, and mushrooms on the vegetable skewers. (That's a lineup I go 1 for 5 on. I like cherry tomatoes but you can have the other stuff.)
We also had peaches to give out as they were leaving.
The second stop guys can't take food back into the Mercy House, so with something like peaches, I take them in to the Night Captain and he hands them out in the morning as they leave.
Susan Lewis was kind enough to provide half of the chicken we used last night and we greatly appreciate her thinking of us.
At the Sr. Banquet last Sunday night, I looked at the 20 Seniors there and realized 10 of them are die hard Tuesday night regulars. My first thought was That's really neat but my second thought was Yikes!* I'm losing 10 people that help almost every week!
It'll actually only be 9 because J.BOGGS is staying here to go to UNCW and he'll still come. Plus I won't lose TYLER right away because the current plan doesn't have him leaving for the NAVY until December. Still, that's a big loss. I'm gonna miss seeing them on Tuesdays. BAILEY /SAM /CHRISTIAN / ALEX / DANIELLE / ELLEN / EBY / LIZ / are heading out!
HERE'S WHY CHUCK IS MY NEW FAVORITE PERSON AND HERO
I love to read. Books, magazines, online, mysteries, thrillers, historical- everything. But my absolute favorite thing to read is Comic Books. I make no apologies for it. I love them. I did when I was a kid and I do now. I deeply care what happens to Batman, Superman and The Flash every month. Here's the depth of my love for comic books: If I was ever in a "last man on earth" scenario (I am Legend, or the Twilight Zone episode with Burgess Meredith) , I 'd cope by heading to the comic book store and reading everything they have. And it would take a long while. Oh, I imagine eventually I would get around to missing some of y'all, but ....
Anyway, CHUCK has been coming for a few months now. He's an older gentleman who's a big help, but I've never had a sit down discussion about what he does now or used to do. Chuck noticed that CHRIS ADAMS, the Minister of Students, had on a Justice League T-shirt and a conversation started. Out of the blue he mentioned Green Arrow and Green Lantern and referenced a story done in 1970. I said "Hard Travelin' Heroes" and we proceeded to go back and forth about who drew it(Neal Adams), who wrote it (Denny O'Neal, who inked it (Dick Giordano), etc.
I was amazed. But that was nothing.
Then he says I remember talking to Neal.........
WHAAAAAAAAAAAAT!
Neal Adams? My favorite artist of all time? The most definitive Batman artist of all time?
Yep. CHUCK knows him.
CHUCK used to work in the comic book industry!
CHUCK used to do covers for comic books and paper backs. He starts naming off comics that I have read and characters that I know.
Then he says the magic words: I used to help on the DOC SAVAGE paperback covers.
FLASHBACK: 1970 - I'm a little kid and an older friend of mine lets me read a paperback book called DOC SAVAGE : THE MAN OF BRONZE.
I loved the book, and thought it had the coolest paperback cover of all time. A publisher called BAMA was reissuing the DOC SAVAGE books from the 30's and 40's with all new cover art. I liked the cover to the one above so much that I tracked down a poster of it and bought it. Then I started reading every one of the 100+ books I could find.
And now, years later, I'm talking to the guy who played a role in all of that. Way beyond cool.
I start dropping Hall of Fame names from the comic book industry and he knows them all.
He had to leave towards the end of the first stop, but we're not done by a long shot.
I'm going to do everything I can to make sure he keeps coming. I don't care if he helps cook or not, I want him for the stories.
The kids couldn't believe how excited I got the more CHUCK and I talked.
They will one day.
Maybe they'll meet .........
First and most importantly, God's goodness and blessings. We had so much food to pass out last night. God provides us with so much great food it's unbelievable. And not leftovers we just reheat. Wonderful fresh stuff that our friends can tell was cooked specifically for them.
To be able to create and cook something, then put it in someone's hands for them to eat and have them come back and tell you how good it was and how much they appreciate you doing it, might be the biggest long term benefit kids get from this ministry. It's the kind of thing that makes an impression and sparks them to do (and lead) similar things when they go off to college and beyond.
Another great thing was a lot of people came and helped last night.
HOLT / KEVIN / CUTTER / MARCUS /CHRIS / CHRISTIAN / TYLER / CHRIS ADAMS / EBY / MARK / /HAMPTON / TJ / TWIG / MITCH / CHUCK (my new favorite person and hero!) / JAMIE / ELAINE / MADELYNE / MERRITT / CECELIA / JOHANNA / CAITLYN / KAYLA / ALEX / ALEXANDRA / BRIANNA / CREEEEECH! / ALEXIS / DAVID / STEPHANIE / TERESA F. / BRIEN / MARILYN / put faith into action by putting food in people's hands last night.
Teresa Fountain was able to obtain a tremendous amount of fruit and vegetables for last nights meal, which was :
CHICKEN SKEWERS
VEGETABLE SKEWERS
BAKED BEANS
DINNER ROLLS
CANTALOUPE SLICES
WATERMELON SLICES
PEACHES
DESSERT
WATER / SWEET TEA / GINGER ALE
It's been at least 4 years since we did any kind of kabobs or skewers, so last night was a real treat. The kitchen was a well oiled machine with people cutting and skewering, making tea, slicing watermelon and cantaloupe,washing dishes, etc.
We had cherry tomatoes, zucchini, squash, bell peppers, and mushrooms on the vegetable skewers. (That's a lineup I go 1 for 5 on. I like cherry tomatoes but you can have the other stuff.)
We also had peaches to give out as they were leaving.
The second stop guys can't take food back into the Mercy House, so with something like peaches, I take them in to the Night Captain and he hands them out in the morning as they leave.
Susan Lewis was kind enough to provide half of the chicken we used last night and we greatly appreciate her thinking of us.
At the Sr. Banquet last Sunday night, I looked at the 20 Seniors there and realized 10 of them are die hard Tuesday night regulars. My first thought was That's really neat but my second thought was Yikes!* I'm losing 10 people that help almost every week!
It'll actually only be 9 because J.BOGGS is staying here to go to UNCW and he'll still come. Plus I won't lose TYLER right away because the current plan doesn't have him leaving for the NAVY until December. Still, that's a big loss. I'm gonna miss seeing them on Tuesdays. BAILEY /SAM /CHRISTIAN / ALEX / DANIELLE / ELLEN / EBY / LIZ / are heading out!
HERE'S WHY CHUCK IS MY NEW FAVORITE PERSON AND HERO
I love to read. Books, magazines, online, mysteries, thrillers, historical- everything. But my absolute favorite thing to read is Comic Books. I make no apologies for it. I love them. I did when I was a kid and I do now. I deeply care what happens to Batman, Superman and The Flash every month. Here's the depth of my love for comic books: If I was ever in a "last man on earth" scenario (I am Legend, or the Twilight Zone episode with Burgess Meredith) , I 'd cope by heading to the comic book store and reading everything they have. And it would take a long while. Oh, I imagine eventually I would get around to missing some of y'all, but ....
Anyway, CHUCK has been coming for a few months now. He's an older gentleman who's a big help, but I've never had a sit down discussion about what he does now or used to do. Chuck noticed that CHRIS ADAMS, the Minister of Students, had on a Justice League T-shirt and a conversation started. Out of the blue he mentioned Green Arrow and Green Lantern and referenced a story done in 1970. I said "Hard Travelin' Heroes" and we proceeded to go back and forth about who drew it(Neal Adams), who wrote it (Denny O'Neal, who inked it (Dick Giordano), etc.
I was amazed. But that was nothing.
Then he says I remember talking to Neal.........
WHAAAAAAAAAAAAT!
Yep. CHUCK knows him.
CHUCK used to do covers for comic books and paper backs. He starts naming off comics that I have read and characters that I know.
Then he says the magic words: I used to help on the DOC SAVAGE paperback covers.
FLASHBACK: 1970 - I'm a little kid and an older friend of mine lets me read a paperback book called DOC SAVAGE : THE MAN OF BRONZE.
And now, years later, I'm talking to the guy who played a role in all of that. Way beyond cool.
I start dropping Hall of Fame names from the comic book industry and he knows them all.
He had to leave towards the end of the first stop, but we're not done by a long shot.
I'm going to do everything I can to make sure he keeps coming. I don't care if he helps cook or not, I want him for the stories.
The kids couldn't believe how excited I got the more CHUCK and I talked.
They will one day.
Maybe they'll meet .........
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
....I could be swayed if someone had a better idea.
2 bags of grits, 180 eggs, 20 lbs. of deer sausage, a #2 can of cheese sauce and 60 slices of white cheese.
That's all you need to feed 80 people a couple of bowls of jacked-up cheese grits.
It wound up being about 10 gallons altogether. We had 5 gallons of grits and 5 gallons worth of the other stuff. Mixed together it was pretty thick and hearty.
We had TEXAS PETE and jalapenos for anyone who wanted to go that route - and lots did. Got back to the church after the 2nd stop with about a ladle and a half left.
The rain earlier in the day actually made for a pleasant first stop. It wasn't muggy like I was expecting. the second stop did turn out that way, but it was still ok.
BAILEY / SAM / DANIELLE / CHRISTIAN / TYLER / J.BOGGS / EBY / JASON / JADE / EMILY / HAMPTON / LIZ / JANE / CHUCK / FIRST TERESA / SECOND TERESA / BRIEN / WAYNE / TWIG / BLAKE / MARK / JOHANNA / MORGZILLA / ALEXIS / CREEEEEEEEEEEECH! / BRIEN / CHRIS / NICK / JOSH / ALEX / STEVE / MARILYN / are all every bit as colorful and lively on Tuesday nights as their names are on the blog.
John Liverman brought us a pan of baked chicken and a half pan of barbecue from his Rotary Club luncheon. We pulled the chicken off the bone to use next week and put the barbecue in the freezer. John's a good man.
I'm gonna be gone some this summer with YG trips and stuff. People have stepped up and offered to help in my absence. If you want to help and get us through the summer, contact me and let me know(gamyharns@gmail.com). A group of families can get together and do it, a Sunday School class, it doesn't matter. I've already been contacted by another church's youth group and our church's Boy Scout troop.
The reason we need help covering is not that I'm gone, but it's because when I'm gone it's with the Youth Group, and as you notice in the list of who helps every week, they make up a lot of the crowd that comes. I don't have to be replaced- but 20 kids do.
Gene McIntyre and Mitch Cook are the ones responsible for supplying us with Deer Sausage this time. We appreciate it.
We've got chicken to use for next week's meal. Right now I'm leaning toweards some kind of kabobs.
But I'm flexible........
That's all you need to feed 80 people a couple of bowls of jacked-up cheese grits.
It wound up being about 10 gallons altogether. We had 5 gallons of grits and 5 gallons worth of the other stuff. Mixed together it was pretty thick and hearty.
We had TEXAS PETE and jalapenos for anyone who wanted to go that route - and lots did. Got back to the church after the 2nd stop with about a ladle and a half left.
The rain earlier in the day actually made for a pleasant first stop. It wasn't muggy like I was expecting. the second stop did turn out that way, but it was still ok.
BAILEY / SAM / DANIELLE / CHRISTIAN / TYLER / J.BOGGS / EBY / JASON / JADE / EMILY / HAMPTON / LIZ / JANE / CHUCK / FIRST TERESA / SECOND TERESA / BRIEN / WAYNE / TWIG / BLAKE / MARK / JOHANNA / MORGZILLA / ALEXIS / CREEEEEEEEEEEECH! / BRIEN / CHRIS / NICK / JOSH / ALEX / STEVE / MARILYN / are all every bit as colorful and lively on Tuesday nights as their names are on the blog.
John Liverman brought us a pan of baked chicken and a half pan of barbecue from his Rotary Club luncheon. We pulled the chicken off the bone to use next week and put the barbecue in the freezer. John's a good man.
I'm gonna be gone some this summer with YG trips and stuff. People have stepped up and offered to help in my absence. If you want to help and get us through the summer, contact me and let me know(gamyharns@gmail.com). A group of families can get together and do it, a Sunday School class, it doesn't matter. I've already been contacted by another church's youth group and our church's Boy Scout troop.
The reason we need help covering is not that I'm gone, but it's because when I'm gone it's with the Youth Group, and as you notice in the list of who helps every week, they make up a lot of the crowd that comes. I don't have to be replaced- but 20 kids do.
Gene McIntyre and Mitch Cook are the ones responsible for supplying us with Deer Sausage this time. We appreciate it.
We've got chicken to use for next week's meal. Right now I'm leaning toweards some kind of kabobs.
But I'm flexible........
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