Spaghetti for Susan

      This past Monday I was one of many volunteers to assist in the 'Spaghetti for Susan' benefit in the Sherman/Denison area. For some background information, Susan Hooper is one of the friendly faces to greet you upon entering Reba's Ranch House. Located behind Texoma Medical Center Hospital in Denison, Reba's Ranch House caters to the plight of women who are in a bad relationship or the after effects of breast cancer. They have one room that is filled with various wigs, hair pieces, and make-up for women who have lost their hair to chemo treatments.

       My wife does a lot of volunteer work locally, but the efforts for the women of Reba's Ranch House is one close to her heart. She and I have both felt the heartache of losing a loved one from our families to cancer.
       Susan Hooper herself fought the successful battle with breast cancer some years ago, and she has been cancer free since. A couple of months ago she got the news that cancer had returned, this time to her neck and spine. She immediately underwent new chemo treatments to combat the disease. Her company insurance covered the treatments, but the co-pay totals were astronomical. Friends and colleagues came up with the money-making idea of making spaghetti dinners and allowing cars to drive-by the Ranch House for pick-up.

      Over forty volunteers showed up at eight o'clock Monday, ready to face what we hoped would be a constant demand for spaghetti all day long. Some companies and schools called in orders early to be picked up closer to lunch time.

       Most of the ingredients for the salads, pasta, and meat sauce were all donated, so just the actual labor of preparing and delivering the final product was the volunteers goal. Here we were packing salads.. Romaine lettuce, mandarin oranges, raisins, croutons, and a couple of different salad dressings in each Styrofoam container. We also packed a couple of cookies in a plastic baggie as a dessert. I am the one in the Dallas Cowboy cap... and obviously, the one who did NOT get the word on black tee-shirts..

       Jim Hawthorne, Horace Groff, and Harry Lemming did most of the cooking of the 'secret sauce' while the rest of us did the serving.

        Former Grayson County Judge Horace Groff takes a break from the heat, along with Michelle, a member of the staff at Reba's Ranch House. Before I forget, Reba herself heard about the fund- raiser and sent a check for Susan despite not getting any spaghetti.

       Back inside,...The pasta arrived in the kitchen already buttered and seasoned. All we had to do was heat it up and apply the sauce, along with a piece of garlic bread donated by Panera's.

          The sauce arrived in three gallon buckets and we heated it in four large cookers like the one above.. When the cooker got low it was simply a matter of adding another bucket of sauce...NOT an easy chore as the delicious concoction was intent on spattering over the entire counter-top.  

     Susan was adamant on helping out somewhere...but we assigned her son Matthew the job of keeping her in this recliner where she could just oversee the job we were doing. My wife sprayed some pink hair paint on Susan,..she is not sunburned as much as it looks.

         The gang outside along the curb performed super. They took money and delivered the meals to each car as they stopped to pick up their orders. Some called in advance and some ordered right on the spot, but the volunteers made good on every car coming by.

        Chris and Nicole had the answer of how to transfer the completed meals from the kitchen to the curb. This allowed us to transit about 25 meals at a time and kept the flow going so we could avoid a bottleneck. 

        We got good publicity from the event as both KXII-TV and KTEN-TV came by to do video stories on the activity....and the newspaper also came by to cover the hubbub..

        And look who else came by to get some spaghetti...Denison Mayor Jared Johnson showed up during his lunch hour to make good on his promise to be there. Thanks your Honor!

       Speaking of lunch,...we did get to take a break between the lunch and dinner rushes.. Guess what was on the menu??  Spaghetti of course...and despite handling it all day, it was still delicious. This is Susan digging in to sample the product. The day was a big success, and while I am not at liberty to disclose any financial figures, you can see by the smile on Susan's face that we far exceeded any projected goals. All told we delivered just over one thousand meals. Thanks to all who participated;... May the Lord Bless You and your families.