Cinco de Mayo went great – thanks!

Over 300 people showed up Tuesday night for the Experience Food Project dinner at FHHS…and, according to Laurie Paul, it was a great evening! Here’s more from Laurie, Wednesday morning:

Hey Everyone!
I just wanted to express my own personal great big Thank You to all of you wonderful people for volunteering your time and hard work towards making last night’s Community Dinner the best one ever!  It was truly an amazing night as we fed close to 300 people and raised somewhere around $3000 for the Every Child Eats Fund!

I think that the incredible turnout was testimony to the enthusiasm and commitment that our community has, and is increasingly developing, for the  incredible new food program happening in our schools.  All it takes is one bite of anything Chef Andy cooks up to turn even a skeptic into a believer!

For me, it is a dream come true to see 11 of my neighbors coming together in one place to share a meal, converse, exchanging words and ideas.  In my nearly 20 years living here on San Juan Island, I have often hoped that we could create something like this on a regular basis, and now, thanks to the Experience Food Project and the resources it had put forth, we have all made it happen together.

I genuinely believe that by sharing these experiences around food,  in an environment that welcomes ALL of our neighbors, regardless of the funds available to them, we can build a stronger, more diverse  community in which to raise our children and nurture each other.

Every time one of these dinners happens it is a whole new effort to get it out into the community, round up volunteers, make menus, cook the food, do the PR, arrange the decor, keep those trays clean and ready to refill, and of course to just be there physically to pull the whole thing off.  No one is getting paid to make any of it happen and without the efforts of volunteers like yourselves, they would not happen at all.

So when you hear people talking about how great the Cinco de Mayo Community Dinner was, smile big and give yourself some kudos, as it would never have happened without YOU!

With many thanks and all my best,
Laurie

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