A Fun Night

Thank you to everyone who attended the Bruce Springsteen Tribute Concert last night. The turnout was great and the best part was that we raised funds to help feed the hungry in our community - $2,574.87.

Here are a few snapshots from the event:

I took this photo before the start of the concert from the window of Kempton Hall where we serve The Wednesday Community Meal. At the event, The Very Reverend Bill Lupfer, who is the Dean of Trinity Episcopal Cathedral,  announced that it is estimated that more than 36,000 free meals will be served just this year alone through the church's Hunger Ministries. Besides the weekly community meal, this includes the annual Thanksgiving and Easter Meals and the daily distribution of food bags.

The stage was the porch of the cathedral. It was a warm and breezy evening and perfect for an outdoor concert. Thank you to all the musicians who donated their time and talent.

It took a lot of volunteers to pull off the large event including my daughter Eleanor (left) and niece Maya (right) who manned the poster table all night. My goddaughter GraceLin helped by keeping them awake and alert. Local poster artist Gary Houston designed and printed posters just for the event.

The view from the stage.

Casey Neill was the last musician to take the stage. The last song of night was "Thunder Road."

An Early 4th of July Celebration

We celebrated the 4th of July a day early at the Wednesday Community Meal by serving all-beef Costco hotdogs, crispy roasted potatoes, green salad, soup, watermelon and ice cream sundaes.

Volunteer Quinn making ice cream sundaes for our guests.

On the actual 4th, many food agencies in our city our closed so we wanted to make sure our guests today left very satisfied. With extra help from some young volunteers who are on summer break, we served 237 meals during our two hour service from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

My sweet niece Maya helped me season the potatoes before roasting. It took a lot of time and effort cleaning and dicing 300 pounds of potatoes from The Oregon Food Bank. Thank you Mary, Leah, Sierra and Ann!

Trinity Episcopal Cathedral provided the hot dogs, buns, watermelon and ice cream. The potatoes came from the Oregon Food Bank and the salad ingredients were donated by Spring Hill Organic Farm in Albany and Food Front Grocery Cooperative in Hillsdale. The soup was donated by Good Samaritan Hospital. We were worried that the soup wouldn't be popular because of the heat but we were wrong. Our guests were hungry and appreciative of everything we offered.

We always try our best to accommodate our guests' dietary needs. For vegetarians we served potatoes, watermelon, stir fried kale and oven roasted asparagus, squash and cauliflower.

Meatloaf And Pork Roast

A plate of meatloaf and rice.

We guessed right that this Wednesday, the last and fifth of the month, would be one of our busiest.

With the holiday weekend, guests weren't able to find food so easily this past Monday when many places were closed. And with it being the end of the month, the 361 guests we served today were extra hungry and as always appreciative.

We served homemade meatloaf made from premium ground beef donated from Phil's Meatmarket and pork roast that we made from pork we purchased at Cash 'n' Carry.

Alongside the meat, we served rice donated from Good Samaritan Hospital that we extended by adding frozen green beans and seasoning. The rice didn't last the whole service so we also served mashed potatoes and pasta.

Salads, soup and dessert were also on the menu.

One of the beautiful salads made by dedicated volunteer Kate.

It was such a busy day that I didn't get a chance to get a photo of the beautiful pork roast after it was cooked. But here's a pre-oven photo. I seasoned the pork with a homemade rub made with chili powder, cumin, oregano, a bit of sugar, salt and pepper.

Seasoned pork roast that's ready for the oven.