Photo from Sheila Mark's photo album On Friday Nov. 27. 2020, Athens Rotary helped Good Works, Inc host a Friday Night Life Dinner at the Plains United Methodist Church. Good Works holds a Friday Night Life Dinner every Friday evening throughout the year for those in the Athens area struggling with homelessness, poverty, and recovery issues. The food is donated and prepared by community organizations and our Athens Rotary Club takes responsibility for one or two the the meals each year. Note: Our club has been doing this with Good Works at least since 2007 (see Aug. 2007 story) .
During the COVID-19 Pandemic, the event is a bit different from the normal sit-down, family-style gathering. Because only five Rotarians are allowed inside at a time, the food had to be prepared mostly at home rather than in the church kitchen, and it had to be served in take-out containers. All people entering the building were required to wear masks, register in case of the need for contact tracing, and have their temperature taken.
President Sheila Mark organized the volunteers and made-up the menu, planning the meal for 60 people with Thanksgiving in mind. It required 7 turkeys, 30 pounds of potatoes (to make mashed potatoes), 12 pounds of frozen green beans, 30 cups of coleslaw, and 10 pumpkin pies.
A huge thanks to the Rotarians who made the food. The turkeys were supplied by Betsy Baringer, Jeanne Heaton, Cindy Birt (a friend of Jeanne and Sheila), Sheila Mark (2), and Mike Noel (2). Susan Barga, Mike Yandrich, and Alan & Sue Boyd made the mashed potatoes. Diane McVey and her husband Craig made the coleslaw and Margy Kramer & her husband Peter put it into individual containers and delivered it to the church. Our shining star Scott Malcom made 10 pumpkin pies!! He even cut them and put the slices into individual serving containers.
And another huge thanks to those who volunteered to be in the kitchen to finish putting the meal together and putting it in take-out containers. Sandy Nesbitt cooked the green beans. Also in the kitchen were Susan Barga and her husband Chuck, Betsy Baringer, and Shane Jarrett.
There is often a silver lining to the bad situation in which COVID leaves you. In this case, it was that the Rotarians did not have to do dishes! We hope the next dinner is after the Pandemic so we can stay to eat as a community.
Note: Information in this story was lifted from President Sheila Mark's emails describing this year's event. After searching past Stories, I believe the 2007 story (linked above), describes our club's first Good Works Dinner. That 2007 story was posted by (now President) Sheila Mark!