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closeOut Our Way: Mardi Gras feast or famine is coming to Longbranch
Colleen Slater
Out Our Way
Fat Tuesday, Feb. 16, the beginning of Mardi Gras, will bring the third annual Feast or Famine dinner to the Longbranch Improvement Club. All proceeds from the event will benefit the Key Peninsula Community Services Food Bank.
Dinner guests will present their tickets and receive a sealed envelope that will indicate their placement at the tables. The guests open them all at once.
Some smile as they see they are among the 10 percent who will be at a beautifully decorated head table for an elegant roast beef dinner with all the trimmings.
Twenty percent of the guests will accept that their meal will be healthy with no extras.
The remaining 70 percent may be resigned to their fate of representing the less fortunate of the world, dining on “Cruel Gruel.”
“It won’t be quite as cruel as it could be,” co-chair Carolyn Wiley said, “because, in preparation for Lent, we’ll be using up some fat, butter or cream.”
Resource Family Center Director Jud Morris is expected to lead his usual protest for “the bottom of the food chain.”
The event demonstrates how the world eats. Only 10 percent get multiple-course meals, from soup to dessert, with expensive meats and more food than they need. Seventy percent of the world population is usually hungry.
“This is an unabashed fundraiser for our local food bank,” co-chair Vicki Biggs said. “Bring money, and be prepared to spend.”
A silent auction will include pottery by Gary Anderson and a ship model by David Wickland.
Hand-crafted soup bowls by potters Matthew Hulse and Elaine Quigley, plus soup mix, will be available for purchase.
“We are serving 300 families each month,” said KPCS Food Bank Director Penny Gazabat. “That amounts to about 900 people.”
When Gazabat first arrived at the food bank in October 2007, it served 98 families.
No, on days when there are produce as well as bread-closet items, the food bank serves more than 2,000 people. Some are regular clients who need supplemental supplies.
“There are many local families who experience food insecurity,” Biggs said.
Evergreen Elementary School in Lakebay has the highest ratio in the Peninsula School District of children who receive free or reduced-price lunches, at 74 percent. Other Key Peninsula schools are all higher than the district average.
“How much is enough?” is the theme of the Feast or Famine event this year, with speaker Carrie Little, who runs Mother Earth Farms in Puyallup.
Biggs said there will be a surprise for “added drama.”
“We made about $4,000 last year,” Biggs said, “and I expect we’ll do that well again this year.”
“Our goal is to meet or beat last year, and to have everything paid for before the doors open,” said Wiley, who added that individuals, businesses and community organizations are giving donations to help defray expenses.
It’s a great community event, and children are welcome to participate, but families may not all sit together, depending on their table assignment in the envelopes.
Wally Johnson of Home Port Restaurant in Home will again be head cook.
Volunteers this year include some teens from the Key Peninsula community who have helped with the Family Resource Center summer programs.
The planning committee includes Biggs, Gazabat, Wiley, Norma Iverson, Peggy Bingham and Arlyce Kretschman.
Tickets are $25 per person, and they are available from event sponsors, at Sunnycrest Nursery or by calling 253-884-9157. Tickets must be purchased before Feb. 8 for an accurate count for the food purchasers.
Celebrate Mardi Gras by helping those in need.