Kingston Rotarians, led by Chris Gilbreath, spent most of the day in the Village Green kitchen preparing and serving the Community Dinner on March 8. The theme was a St. Patrick’s Day dinner featuring corned beef and cabbage. Fredrick Branchflower was stationed in the lobby to guide almost 100 diners to the appropriate room.
Chris Gilbreath, his wife Mary Jane, and Keith Beebe cooked the corned beef, potatoes, carrots, cabbage, and cole slaw. Skip Peters was kept busy carving all of the corned beef.
Sally Christy greeted our guests and passed out napkins as they made their way to the serving counter. Chris Libby, Breane Martinez, and Suzanne Jenny served the dinner to our guests. I especially liked Breane’s nutritional comments as she told everyone how beneficial it would be to eat lots of carrots. There were a few timing issues, but Keith Beebe took care of that by circulating through the tables and serving the potatoes once they were finally cooked.
There were side tables where diners could pick up beverages, get butter for their Irish Soda Bread and pick up condiments. Helen Ralph made sure the coffee pots were full and Bobbie Moore replenished the pitchers of water on the table. Sondra Peters and Nancy Martin helped carry food or beverages for those guests with walkers or canes. De’ Mackinnon, Sondra and Nancy were on hand to bus tables.
Naomi Maasberg and Mark Libby worked in the kitchen scooping up ice cream for the desert course. Michele Fuji and Bobbie Moore served the ice cream by playing “Good Humor Man” and rolling a cart through the tables to serve our guests.
Walt Elliott, Doug Hallock, and Mark Libby, were kept busy in the kitchen washing dishes, truly a gargantuan job! It was a huge Rotarian effort, and I hope that I haven’t overlooked anyone’s contribution to a great Community Dinner. Many hands made light work.
