Friday, July 1, 2011

The Friday menu says “anything that is left over”. If it was mentioned in this blog during the week we put it out this morning. Sausage, creamed dried beef, French toast, eggs, fried apples, watermelon, etc.

We cleaned up from breakfast with packing to head home in mind. Carl broke down the outdoor griddle area with Pat’s help and filled the back of his truck.

Rich and Anne went on site to help a group for the second day with roofing.

Mollie, Bette and Makenzie put the rental house in order.

Most of the preparation for tonight’s dinner of pizza and tacos was done in advance. We were cleaned up and out by six.

Rich and Anne have left for home.

Our next big event is tonight’s Mary Keller memorial ice cream social at eight o’clock. Makenzie stayed at the school after dinner and will help Carl serve the ice cream to the campers and their guests, the owners of the houses they worked on.

After we put out breakfast tomorrow morning the rest of us will start home also. We all have had a great experience, just ask any of the CAMT members who are named in this blog, we’d love to talk about our experiences.

Thursday, June 30, 2011

Today was the last day of the Bike VA event. On Sunday and again today we were the recipients of all the unused items from the rest stops here in the county. Again Bagels galore, peanut butter and Jelly sandwiches, cookies, trail mix and bananas. Very ripe bananas.

So every morning this week Bette has been making banana smoothes. First using orange juice, then later in the week she added apples, and then blueberries left over from our Thursday pancake breakfast menu. Low and behold they are very popular. She is kept busy making batch after batch in the mornings. We have now added a sign to the pitcher of smoothes – Presbyterian Smoothes.

Dinner was chopped sirloin and real mashed potatoes followed by watermelon as dessert.

Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Mackenzie is ok and reported to work on time this morning.

The Middle School Principal has been having breakfast with us most days as he comes in to work. Today he brought his wife and daughter along. Having his company has allowed us to have several conversations about the school district here. Like West Virginia, the school district is all of Pulaski County.

As previously described we have Wednesday Afternoons off and all of us went a different direction. Mollie and Bette went to the Heritage Trail Museum, Pat and Carl followed a map of Artisan Shops throughout the County. Rich and Anne visited the Virginia Tech campus and the memorial from the shooting there of a few years ago.

We all came together for dinner. It was a good dinner, and typical of when we get together socially, a good discussion followed. Tonight’s topic – Covenant’s mission projects and works.
We only have two more days before we head home. The weeks working here with Mid-Atlantic Christian Endeavor go by so quickly.

Tuesday, June 28

Yes, we are continuning to break records. With seven people and everyone knowing their job it has been easy work and early completion times. With just sixty people here to be served each meal our initial reaction is we serve more than that at Coatesville each month.

This leaves time for three of us to work on site with some of the groups. Rich Smith and Anne have been helping in the mornings on various projects.

Mackenzie Hughes spent the whole day with Grace Lutheran from Macungie on demolition of a house before a bulldozer comes in to complete. Well as it turns out not the whole day. She stepped on a nail and her grandmother had to take her to the local hospital for a tetanus shot. Which still took several hours of the day.

Here in Dublin, about five miles from the hospital, is a billboard that has a digital display tell everyone the minutes waiting time at the emergency room. It has never been greater than 25 minutes.

Monday, June 27, 2011

Zip, zip we’re done. Carl and Pat go to the school by 5:30 and put out all the products each of our crew needs to do his/her job. The rest arrive at 6:00.

Rich Smith is tutoring on the griddle to take over next year as a weekly food manager. Bette, Ann and Mollie package cut apples in baggies for the lunch line. McKenzie bakes a sheet cake for dessert tonight and then does a sheet pan of brownies for tomorrow’s lunches. Pat lays out the breakfast bar items. Mollie cuts watermelon pieces to go with the cake for tonight. We serve French toast and bacon to those waiting at 7:00 and are done by 7:30. Cleaned up and out at 8:05. A record.

This afternoon might take a little longer because we need to fill out the salad bar items. But we will see if we can continue to break time records.

Sunday, June 26, 2011

Mollie Hughes, Bette Bowes, and Mollie’s granddaughter McKenzie arrived right on time this afternoon giving them time to settle in. We will repeat the same schedule as last week. At 5:00 we head to the school to make sandwiches. Rich Smith and Anne Zayeitz did not want the dorm experience of group living in the rental house so they have opted to drive an extra twenty miles each day by staying at a motel. Because of the Bike Virginia they could not get closer.

They pull up in front of the house and follow us to the school. Everyone familiarizes themselves with the school cafeteria layout for handling the serving of meals, setup for lunch, and then complete the peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Afterwards we all head to Shoney’s back in Dublin for a dinner together. McKenzie returns to the school with me for the second Dori Gilstrom ice cream social at 9:00.

The attendance this week is only 60. We still have the same amount of work to set up and cleanup but serving goes quickly. McKenzie and I are back at the house by 10.

Last year while we were in West Virginia McKenzie became close with some of the teens from Grace Lutheran Macungie PA and has stayed in touch all year. It is the reason she and her grandmother are here this week.

Each participant in attendance has an envelope with his or her name taped to the wall in the back of the cafeteria. The object is to write notes of friendship or appreciation. On Saturday morning as they are leaving the envelopes are handed out so they can be read on the drive home. Pat and I had several notes in our envelopes. These two hit home.

Thank you so much for preparing and planning all of our meals for the week. We are always excited to see your canopy and griddle when we pull in.

and

Upon arriving at work camp my youth leader said that we were in for a real treat because you were the cook. Now after a week here at camp, I completely agree with my leader. The food was Spectacular!

Saturday, June 25, 2011

Our first group from CAMT packed last night and started home early this morning.

On Saturday we serve a bare bones breakfast of cereal and juice. And left over pizza. You can’t believe how many teenagers will eat pizza for breakfast. The first group of High School Church fellowships head for home.

Pat and Carl get a day and a half off until group two of our CAMT teams arrive Sunday late afternoon.

Friday, June 24, 2011

Earlier in this blog I reported that Bike VA started today. I thought it was a motorcycle rally. I was wrong. It is truly a gathering of bicyclists 1700 of them. They have booked all the motels for miles around and many of them are camping in tents at the local high school.

Being the end of the week for breakfast we serve “whatever we have left over”. In this case it is French toast and eggs over easy and cinnamon rolls,

I mentioned Thursday is our big meal, but Friday is our kid’s meal. Pizza and tacos, with chili in place of soup on the salad bar. The kids really love it even though it is a do it yourself meal. They go through 30 lbs of hamburger as they build some wild combinations in flour tortillas. The spice combinations alone would give an adult heartburn.

So at 8:00 after the praise service we again serve ice cream. This year is the First Annual Mary Keller Memorial ice cream social. A quote from Mary has been our motto here. “The kids are here to serve the community, we are here to serve the kids.

Both Mary Keller and Dori Gilstrom have served CAMT by participating with what was PACE (Pennsylvania Christian Endeavor) and is now MACE for many years and are still remembered.

Actually our crew this week has many years of service under our belt.
It’s been nine years for Pat and Carl Lotz, Mollie and Millie have at least twelve years.

Thursday, June 23, 2011

Mentioned previously we have changed our food schedule today to allow everyone to attend the Pulaski Mariners baseball game at 7:00.

Thursday is our big meal, but is quickly comes together. Carl browned the chopped steaks after breakfast this morning and now they will be finished off in the oven. What eventually will become the mashed potatoes start out as commercial packaged ¼ inch cubes. This allows us to put the 20 plus lbs into a steamer to cook. We then mash them with potato masher from the dollar store and use a small manual beater to finish.

In the mean time Pat Lotz does the brown gravy and then, as she does every night, prepares the soup that is part of the salad bar. They are simple modifications built around canned soup but get rave reviews each night.

Well each night except Tuesday. On Tuesdays we get won ton soup from a local Chinese restaurant. This is always an experience. Early in the morning I tried to explain to the manager what we wanted. No one in the restaurant spoke English. I thought I was getting through to them until she placed a call to her teen-age son who speaks English. It only took us another 15 minutes with him as interpreter. Either I have to learn Chinese or Pat has got to be able to make won-ton soup. I would prefer the latter.

As previously reported Millie Williams and Nancy Reynolds complete the salad bar. Keeping it stocked takes all of the lead-time we have before serving.

Nancy Carpenter baked some chocolate chip cookies to serve hot along with watermelon for dessert.

The kids are finished dinner by 5:30. They finish their evening praise service by 6:30 and are off to the game.

At the game they are publicly recognized for the work they are doing, The Mariners win their third straight game 13 to 2.

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Wednesdays are half a day. We serve breakfast and the kids complete their lunch by working down the line of items that ends with fruit and then write their names on the bags. BUT we don’t have to serve dinner. The groups only work half a day until 1:00 o’clock. Then the afternoon is free for group activities. Most seem to go somewhere to swim.

There is a professional baseball team here in Pulaski. The Pulaski Mariners, a division of the Seattle Mariners. They play in Calfee Park, built in 1932 and nestled between two close hills. On one side houses high enough over right field that they can sit in their front yard and watch the game. Dense woods cover the hill on the left field side. The Phillies were here back in the 50’s. Citizens Park in Philly seats 45,00. Calfee seats 2,000. Well that is a misnomer because you have to bring your own seat in some areas of the stadium. The team is a Rookie League with a short season that just started Tuesday. I never heard of a Rookie League before but it is the starting point for many players. The season is late starting since most of the players have just been drafted and are just out of college. Although several are right out of High School.

Wednesday is a great night for baseball so Pat and Carl attend. Almost 800 people come out for the game paying $4 for general admission. We opt for reserved seating at $6 per ticket behind home plate. Scouts who are familiarizing themselves with the new players surround us. The experience is similar to when the Mets play the Phillies in Philly. A lot of verbal haranguing of the umpire and even the players.

The town of Pulaski is treating our groups to a free game on Thursday night. As a result we have to modify both breakfast hours to get them out to work early since they are stopping by 3:30. Then we have to have dinner ready by 4:30 so they can have the daily church service at 6:30 to head to the ballgame by 6:30 for the first pitch at 7:00.

(To be continued)

Monday and Tuesday, June 20, 21 2011

The big advantage to the work we do here with MACE (Mid-Atlantic Christian Endeavor) is the experience of the team that is together this week. Last year Nancy Reynolds was a rookie. This year she is a veteran working right along with Millie Williams. They serve breakfast from 7 to 7:30 and then change hats to set up and distribute the lunch materials. Together they prepare the sandwiches offered everyday, over a hundred and fifty meat and cheese sandwiches. Nancy Carpenter, who once worked in a school cafeteria, does the peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Spreading that much peanut butter is a real knack, and no body does it better. Nancy also handles the baking of cakes and cinnamon rolls etc.

The biggest problem for all of us is always adapting to the hours we keep. This week because we have an attendance of hundred and ten we don’t start breakfast until 7am. In the past it was 6:30. But we still are up at five every morning and are finished most of our morning work around 8:30. The time we usually are just getting up at home.

In the mornings Nancy Carpenter is baking items for breakfast but also cakes for tonight’s desert or 160 drop biscuits for strawberry shortcake.

The schedule of the evening meal is salad bar at 5:00 and dinner at 5:15. Nancy Reynolds and Millie Williams maintain and set up an extensive salad bar and serve the soup that Pat Lotz prepares. 110 teenagers can and do strip the salad bar, and Millie and Nancy are kept busy restocking.

Nancy Carpenter prepares most of the dinner items and she and Pat Lotz then serve.

And it all goes amazingly smoothly.

Outside under a canopy Carl Lotz works the griddle (described previously) for most of the breakfast items.

The menu is a refinement of what CAMT has discovered over the years to offer a balance of good meals that teenagers like and their leaders expect.

Sunday, June 19, 2011

Pat and Carl Lotz sleep in and then celebrate a Fathers Day breakfast at Shoney’s. Dublin is a nothing town. It consists of a CVS and Walgreens on opposite corners, two banks and a food store. Dublin is two miles from the exit of interstate 81. Clustered around the intersection is the standard number of fast food hamburger chains and a 24 hour Walmart.

I called Sam XXX and the group from Mid-Atlantic Christian Endeavor saying I would need four cinder blocks for the canopy I put up over the griddle used for most of our breakfast products. Because of the propane tank attached to the griddle it has to be outside. Cinder block were going to be a problem to them. They would have to go about 30 minutes to get to a Lowes. And they were planning on going to church.

A little later I called them again, what time are you going to church? 10:30. Well pray for me because I just stole four cinder blocks.

The bulk of Sunday Afternoon was taken up checking out the food order that arrived on the previous Wednesday and sorting items that came in the trailer from Pennsylvania
Millie Williams and Nancy Carpenter arrived at the house around four. Pat was there to meet them and ride with them to the Pulaski Middle school. The three built 200 sandwiches for Monday lunches while Carl met with the leaders of the groups in attendance.
By then Nancy Reynolds, who got a late start from home, arrived at the house. We all met up with her and went out for dinner.

For the past few years we have celebrated the Dori Gillstrom Memorial Ice Cream social with the campers on Sunday night after their evening church service,

Sundaes all around on Sunday.

CAMT in Pulaski, VA - Saturday, June 18, 2011

Just couldn’t get it together to leave Friday night so the second best option was an early start this morning. Drove to Carlisle PA and had breakfast. Pulaski VA is straight down route 81 315 miles. Much closer that most of CAMT destinations in past years to WV and KY.

The town of Dublin is in a broad valley with hills to the left and right. On top of the highest hill stand three structures. In the past you might have seen three crosses at the top of the mountain. But right now the visible structures are a very welcome sight. Communication towers. This means my cell phone will actually work while we are away on a mission trip.

By the way, why are we in Dublin VA when we were actually going to Pulaski. In a few words – no room at the Inn. We will be here for two weeks June 18 through July 2nd. Right in the middle of those dates is “Motor Virginia”, the biggest motorcycle gathering you will ever see. As a result CAMT members, who because of your senior ages stay in a motel while serving, could not get reservations.

While lamenting our plight to the Pulaski Area Chamber of Commerce representative we found a solution. A group who owns a house in the town of Dublin (6 miles from Pulaski) just joined the chamber. I called them and was able to work out the dates. So here it is Saturday afternoon and we are getting the keys for our home for the next two weeks.

The drive to Pulaski via route 11 is a delightful ride in the country. This area is not unlike Chester County with rolling hills dotted with farms. The cows are huddling under the tree shade, but the sheep are frolicking in the fields. The traffic is light with next to no speeds posted for us to obey. (You would have had to read previous CAMT trip blogs for an understanding).

Carl heads to Pulaski to see what we have to work with. We are in the Pulaski Middle School. Probably the oldest school in the County school system. The only one not air-conditioned. The school is high on a hill with the front overlooking the town. Pulaski is about half the size of West Chester with a business section of two streets similar to Gay and Market. The one exception is between a myriad of antique and second hand shops are empty stores. If Pulaski was not the County Seat with various government agencies based in town, it would look deserted. But the surrounding areas are full of prosperous homes.

The school is well equipped, it should be a good week. We’ll set up tomorrow.