Without Crazy, there is more need for kitchen volunteers, and today it was me. Doug had a few dozen meat sandwiches prepared, and I put them in baggies. Then we made an assembly line and sacked them with drinks, chips, cookies and napkins. We finished so quickly that he kept track of the minutes, knowing he'd be heading home that much earlier!
Hottie was in and out of the kitchen; the boys enjoyed their usual banter, and we sacked a dozen breakfast bags. When noon rolled around, I filled the ice bin, and Doug set out a box of sack lunches on my side of the counter. "Don't give 'em a bag until they give you their room number," he instructed. Otherwise, he explained, folks might take extras. We served about 15 sacks. At least half of our diners returned their drinks to exchange them for something different, and the fancy lady asked for bottled water. In the interest of cleaning out my stash of Christmas candies, I set out a bowlful of mini-tootsie rolls. Our 17-year-old's mother got a styrofoam soup bowl and filled it with the candies. Desperate times/desperate measures.
For dinner, there were pots of green beans and mashed potatoes on the stove, and during lunch, Doug fried several bags of frozen chicken drumsticks—battered to perfection. When the lunch group had finished, we made up 35 plates with the potatoes, beans, chicken and rolls. Then we wrapped them and put them in the warming oven. Hottie would serve them at 4 this afternoon. When his shift ends, the night security guard comes on duty. It's a homeless shelter; I can't tell you enough how much homier it was with 30 pre-release prisoners in the bunch.
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