“Pass the Potatoes”…I mean “Pass the Baton”
This was my last lead at the dinner for the Ronald McDonald House and now Ken Welter will be taking over. That’s what he gets for being so helpful to me over the last three years. I can already see that he is right for the position as he took copious notes, shadowed me shopping for the food and is so much more organized than I was. Plus he made the meatloaf ( with Mike B. hovering, but really not taking over like usual). It turned out great so that’s another thing he has going for him. Speaking of Mike, he came on time instead of an hour early and was really doing a great job of observing and hinting at ways to do things in the right order and with the right timing which is so important in getting the meal to come together for the 6:00 start.
Please jump in and volunteer while Ken leads as it will help him along with making an impact on those staying at the house and getting our delicious meal. We only had one newbie…John Steuterman and he worked tirelessly from the minute he walked in. He may be new to flyfishing and FATC but not to meal preps and knowing his way around the kitchen. Like normal first timers, John started by peeling potatoes and probably did half of the 25lbs. we used. Then as the cooking started there are always tons of pots, pans, trays, and utensils that constantly need cleaning. Every time I looked up John was meticulously washing away. The group decided he did so much and so well he had to come again. It was great for everyone to meet him.
Doug Smedley has volunteered before and told me he made sure to be on time as he didn’t want to get chastised again by me? Really, me? Although I do go by my coaching training using Lombardi time “If your not 15 minutes early, your late”. It was good to see Doug and catch up as he is always so cheerful and fun to be around. But Doug has to know I’d tell, he was given the gravy making job by me (coincidentally I’ve never made because I’d most likely screw it up) and he couldn’t figure out the directions so luckily Harold who has mastered how much and how thick to make it took over and made just the right amount. Ken went by and picked up Steve Baker as we had a late drop out and Steve did…use guessed it…baked the cookies like he hasn’t heard that one a thousand times before. We kept the group tradition running as we all sampled at least one hot out of the oven as we prepared the meal.
The crowd at 6:00 was average sized but all were very appreciative and bragged continuously on how good the meal was which always makes us feel good as this might take their mind off their situation for at least a minute or two. We packaged up the extra meals for the late arriving people still at the hospital and did our always very tidy pick up and cleaning of the kitchen. Oh, I almost forgot before we did that we all sat down to a scrumptious meal. I always loved meat loaf and now for the last 3 years have been spoiled by Mike’s meal idea that he proposed to me when I started and we’ve continued as why change success? Now on to Ken leading. Thank you Kenny for giving me this opportunity to lead so many good men in such a worthwhile endeavor.
