Meal Count

With one Webelos session to go, I am projecting 76,306 meals served this summer. The all-time record is 81,358 set in 2007. As Papa Koz once said, "You use a lot of groceries woman." Indeed, we could fill a warehouse with the tons (literally) of food that it takes to feed hungry campers. Beyond groceries, stop for a minute to think about washing over 75,000 plates, cups, knives, forks, and spoons, plus 25,000 cereal bowls.

Acknowledgements

As the summer nears an end and I begin to reflect on the past few months, in addition to those individuals who have already been mentioned, acknowledgements are deserved by the following:

Staff and Camper Volunteers: To those who have helped in the kitchen in any way--washing dishes, sorting silverware, plattering food, etc.--you have our deepest thanks for making life in the kitchen easier for us and better for the campers.

Aquatics Staff: They have been the serving staff for family nights all summer, entertaining the campers and families with song while serving dinner. Their contributions have been so significant and sustained that Chuck drove to Hockenberg's in Omaha on his day off in order to be able to present them with a special sloppy joe scoop and "AQ" stamped serving spoon for baked beans. Both will be kept in the dining hall in their honor.

Marty Kirchmeier: Though I have spoken of him before, the progress that he has made and the leadership he has provided during his second year as a cook merit additional recognition. Marty has mastered the fine art of red sauce and pasta, become the king of macaroni and cheese, learned the nuances of fine salad dressings, and wowed the staff and campers with meatloaf. This summer he became Keeper of the Sacred Bundle Nourishing Trader. We are proud of Marty, wish him the best in his academic and culinary endeavors, and look forward to his drinking a big horn next summer when advancing to Shaman.

Dish Crew

The following three young men, along with rotating staff members, CITs, and a host of volunteers, have been responsible for washing the tens of thousands of table dishes and cooking pans/utensils. Their duties also include the cleanliness of the dish room, dining room, and bathrooms. The collective effort constitutes the best dish crew I have had in many years.

Kyle Mooney: Kyle is a second-year staffer who worked his first summer in the dish room. This year he has taken on the additional duties of dining hall steward, in which he has accepted responsiblity for supervision of the dish crew and determined the quantities of milk, juice, and bread needed for meals. Kyle is presently the assistant senior patrol leader of Troop 510. He has completed his Eagle project, and pending a future board of review, we are looking forward to his being our next Eagle Scout. Kyle enjoys the NBZ program, in which he is a Warrior. He is a senior in high school, involved with drama and musicals. He entertains us with stories and songs from these events.

Cody Shellgren: This is Cody's first year on staff. He is a Star Scout, NBZ Brave, and assistant senior patrol leader of Troop 476. Cody participates in Air Force ROTC and is interested in wrestling. We have enjoyed watching him grow as a leader over the course of the summer.

Blake Maslonka: Also Blake's first year on staff, he is a member of Crew 326 and NBZ Brave. He attends Cedar Bluffs high school as a sophomore, where he plays football, lifts in the weight room, and wrestles. Like myself, he lives close to camp, which is a definite advantage.

Conclusion of Boy Scout camp

Webelos sessions are ahead, but we have successfully closed a good Boy Scout camping season. Since the response to the blog has been positive, there are plans to continue posts throughout the year, though on a less frequent basis. We hope you continue to enjoy the content.

Dr. Chuckles

The last (and with his humility, he would want to add "least") dining hall staff member is Chuck McAllister. This is his 12th summer on staff, and he describes his role as "serving at the pleasure of the camp director and director of camping." Staff would describe Chuck's role as part psychologist, part chaplain, and part brother or father. For the dining hall, Chuck meets the delivery trucks about 5:45 AM and stacks the boxes in the storeroom. He tries hard to explain our rules to the table waiters; for instance requiring empty bread bags for a replacement loaf so as not to waste bread. Chuck also enjoys tasting the cookies to ensure that quality standards are being met, and he prefers the soft ones. During the rest of the year, Chuck is a business professor at Southeast Missouri State University. It seems to us that he is widely admired and respected both at and apart from Camp Cedars.

Pranksters

'Tis the season where the caged staff animals are lacking of ways to entertain themselves, so they start pranking program areas. This morning, the Rotary Shelter was plastic wrapped quite well with a chair suspended in the middle, and we saw the lakefront staff carrying a canoe back toward its rightful home. I'm not sure what else might have gone on last night, but the dining hall is understood to be untouchable. At least staff knows that if they play with fire, they won't eat.

How many am I serving?

Last night was a little hectic in the dining hall. In addition to camp, we issued food for Scoutmaster's dinner, Easter Seals at Camp Eagle, and the council properties committee meeting. Unexpectedly, two additional tables had to be set in the dining hall. It's pretty hard to get table-ready food to appear from thin air. This got me thinking about the time that I scrambled the most in the dining hall. Unquestionably, it was 1990. It may have rained every day during staff week. Given the construction activity, camp was not ready to open, and Week 1 was postponed. The troops who had registered for Week 1 were told to come "whenever you want" later in the summer. Just how do you plan, order, and cook food for an unknown number of campers? Some weeks we were filling bowls 3/4 full and hoping we had enough to go around. Other times, we were throwing away 4" pans full of food. It was certainly a stressful, miserable summer for the dining hall. From that first summer comes my paranoia about having an extra day's worth of food on the shelf. We maintain high standards in the dining hall, both quantity and quality. As former staff member Gilligan used to say, "There is always food in Mom's dining hall," and every meal was his favorite.