Volunteering over the weekend

On our last workday, Chef Jeff let us know that there would be a *large* group on campus for the weekend and that he and his staff could use help if we were willing to volunteer. We decided to volunteer to help serve for breakfast, lunch, and supper on Saturday, and breakfast and lunch on Sunday.

Before that started, we went for a walk on Friday evening -- the torches were burning down at the beach...

... and the sunset was pretty behind the palm trees.

At the end of our walk, we sat outside talking with some of the other Sower couples on our last night all together (some would be leaving early Saturday morning). We were near the worship center and could hear the band testing their equipment...

Carl looked in to see what was going on - there were just a few folks and a lot of chairs in there, preparing for the next couple of days.

Chef Jeff had told us to come to volunteer at 9am. We got to the dining hall at about 8:45am and the line was out the door...

... and there was a crowd inside!

It turned out that the large group (400 or so) had arrived to breakfast early...

... and everyone was scrambling to get the food and drinks out for them.

When the rush in the service lines was calmer, Carl took a couple of pictures inside Dewey Litl Loj of the guests dining...

How about that chandelier?

At lunch and supper, we were better prepared and all came early to their posts -- except the guests, who came at their assigned time. We were better able to handle the group without the long waits. Carl was handing out plates at the entrance and trying to get people to use all 4 lines, while I was working the drink delivery.

On Sunday morning, this was in the "lull before the storm" - a smaller group of 150-200 women dined first - and helped us realize that a plan to have them self-serve their beverages wasn't going to work for the big group.

We ended up putting the drinks into cups for the participants to pick up rather than having them self-serve.

Service line for breakfast

Between these two groups, I think nearly every bed on campus was occupied. Chef Jeff said that this is how it is all summer long, but he is staffed for it in the summer. During the winter, there usually are not this many participants.

We enjoyed volunteering at meal duty and getting to interact directly with participants at the camp!