Month: March 2018

Week 11: Cooking for a Crew

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March 17, 2018

You know you are in trouble when a recipe begins with, “Crack 16 dozen eggs.” That’s 192 eggs! Or how about, “Marinate 50 pounds of chicken breasts.” I love to cook, but these “super-sized” recipes can make my head spin. Or at least they used to.

It’s a big job to provide sufficient quantities of the right food to athletes. My son is a high school rower, and I, along with my husband and two friends, have taken on the responsibility for the Food Tent: planning, shopping, and preparing meals for the regattas. Our goal is to fuel the 115 rowers of Dallas United Crew with healthy food during their weekend competitions.

This past Saturday, in Oklahoma City, we served three meals, along with healthy snacks throughout the day. The day began with a continental breakfast bar with bagels, peanut butter, oatmeal and toppings, a variety of yogurt, fruit, vegetables, and nuts, hard boiled eggs, and a hot egg and rice hash. Lunch included grilled chicken sandwiches (yes, 50 pounds of chicken), 20 pounds of homemade pasta salad, green salads, and more fruits and vegetables. Dinner was a make-your-own sandwich bar with a lot of options to prepare a filling meal for the bus ride back to Dallas. We make sure to have vegetarian, dairy-free, and gluten-free options available at every meal.   

Planning, shopping, and cooking for a regatta takes days. My grocery list often tops four pages and requires visits to six or seven stores to find the highest quality at the lowest price. I am so grateful for other volunteers who offer to shop for specific items, make snacks, chop endless quantities of watermelon, or bake cookies for the ride home.

I am certainly not qualified to coach a sport, but volunteering with a youth sports team goes beyond coaching. There are so many things you can do. For me, cooking tasty food for people is the best way I know to show them I care.

For the most recent regatta, I tried a new recipe for these delicious energy bites. Why not volunteer to bring some to an upcoming sporting event?

Week 10: Teacher Appreciation Gifts

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March 7, 2018

My mother was a teacher, and so was her mother. Before I had my son, I taught for several years in the Dallas Independent School District and at Richland College. My husband left the corporate world 12 years ago and became a teacher. Both his mother and his grandfather were teachers as well. Teaching definitely runs in our family.

I have been blessed to have been taught by some amazing teachers over the years, and to work with some incredible teachers now. Most love their jobs, but teaching can be challenging and stressful. Little reminders that they are appreciated can mean a lot. This week, I wanted to work on a project to recognize teachers.

Teacher Appreciation Week, or National Teacher Appreciation Week, is a week-long celebration in recognition of teachers and the contributions they make to education and society. It is held in the first full week of May of every year, providing an opportunity for students, their parents, and administrators to show their appreciation for the hard work teachers do and the long hours many of them put in. The Tuesday of Teacher Appreciation Week is designated as Teacher Appreciation Day.

There are many projects children can do to show their appreciation. I enlisted the help of my Lower School Community Connections members. We decided to decorate large, white, paper coffee cups with inspirational messages and drawings. After filling the cups with tea bags, packets of hot cocoa, special notes, mints, and other treats, we will put lids on the cups and deliver them during Teacher Appreciation Week. We have started early, knowing it might take us awhile to prepare cups for all of our Lakehill teachers.

Start now, and make a teacher’s day during Teacher Appreciation Week!

Week 9: Ferguson Road Initiative

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March 3, 2018

During my ninth week of service, I volunteered with the Ferguson Road Initiative (FRI) on their annual Operation Beautification initiative.

More than 200 volunteers, including 12 neighborhood organizations, six schools, two apartment complexes, 10 businesses, four service organizations, and three faith-based communities, pitched in to help clean up along Ferguson Road. Volunteers met in the parking lot at Ferguson Road and Lakeland, to be outfitted with trash grabbers, trash bags, and bright orange vests to increase visibility. Several neighborhood sponsors provided food and drinks to the volunteers before they set out.

Our group of 20 Lakehill students and parents cleaned along Ferguson Road, between Highland Drive and Lakehill’s Roger L. Perry Campus. In total, several hundred bags of trash and illegal signs were collected for city trash pickup.

The mission of the Ferguson Road Initiative is to transform Far East Dallas into a safe, beautiful, prosperous, and proud community by inspiring hope and working together to achieve a shared vision.

Since 1998, FRI has developed valuable partnerships with other agencies and organizations to facilitate economic development and community revitalization.

If you are interested in volunteering with the Ferguson Road Initiative, fill out the volunteer form and they will contact you as opportunities become available. You can also seek out similar community organizations in your own neighborhood.

Week 8: Crossroads Community Services

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February 24, 2018

During my eighth week of service, I volunteered with Crossroads Community Services in downtown Dallas. I worked with 15 Lakehill high school students as part of our Warrior Outreach Organization (WOO). I have volunteered several times before, with both high school students and with younger children, and always appreciate how organized, efficient, and group-friendly their projects are.

Crossroads Community Services was founded in 2001 as an urban outreach ministry of First United Methodist Church of Dallas. In 2015, the organization began operating as an independent nonprofit organization in order to gain wider community support. Their mission is to nourish low-income families by providing nutritious food and supportive education.

In addition to providing staples to families through their food pantry, Crossroads offers gently-used clothing to their food pantry clients, as well as 20-25 Stewpot clients each day. The organization also supplies diapers and wipes, new socks and underwear, household items such as linens and small appliances, and children’s toys and books. These items help to significantly supplement household incomes, allowing clients to spend the money they save on housing, utilities, or medical bills.

Crossroads Community Services needs 20-25 volunteers each day to ensure that they are serving clients quickly and efficiently. Volunteers are needed to assist clients with food and clothing selection; to receive, sort, and display donated items; to sort and package produce for distribution; and to sort and prep clothing for their Clothing Closet. When we volunteered on Saturday, we sized donated shoes and set them out for display. We also sorted and displayed coats, and bundled diapers to be ready for distribution.

Individuals and groups are encouraged to volunteer, and both weekday and weekend opportunities are available. Group sizes of 12 or less are ideal for the space, but they can make it work even for larger groups. More volunteer information and applications can be found here.

Donations of food, household items, and clothing, with a particular need for men’s shoes, are always appreciated. Donations are accepted from 8:30 a.m. until 2:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, at 1822 Young Street in Dallas.