motoeric
Babbling Farker
- Joined
- Aug 7, 2006
- Location
- huntingt...
BBQ For Veterans/Sailors/Marines/Coast Guardsman
After months of planning, the event is now a pleasant memory. I apologize for length of this post, but there was a lot involved that should be recognized. There are a lot of photos and there will be a lot more as they come in. Feel free to jump into those if there is any interest.
The BBQ Brethren cooks for about 1000 veterans annually at the Long Island VA facility in August with the Suffolk Police Veterans Association. We wanted to do something analogous in the spring, so I reached out to Jennifer Pinto who is very active in military volunteerism. Being involved w/ Fleet Week, she knew that unlike those coming into Manhattan, the Sailors and Coast Guardsmen coming into Brooklyn had nothing waiting for them. No fanfare, no displays of patriotism, no welcome.
She asked if we could cook for them and effectively be that parallel to the events in Manhattan. We, of course, said yes. It's hard to overestimate what Jennifer did. Within a 5 months span, she created an infrastructure and and an event that rivaled or surpassed the best that Fleet Week had to offer and did it from whole cloth. A good way to get a grasp on what she accomplished is to take a look at the event and realize that if it's not BBQ related, she created it.
The Brethren stepped up in a way that few organizations could and helped finance all the needs for the food. You exceeded the GoFundMe goals three times!
Phil and John spent days before the event shopping and preparing and they arrived on the 24th to get everything set up. Paul hauled his magnificent smoker from Alabama to NYC and arrived on Monday the 23rd. Chris, Kirk and Matt arrived on the 24th and immediately pitched in.
By very early Wednesday morning William had the two pigs in his huge spicewine and worked tirelessly from that point on. The BBQ area started growing in density from about 6:00 am on as trimming, rubbing, prepping and cooking took place for the next 9 hours.
Veterans and guests started to arrive around 1:00 pm and enjoyed an array of appetizers that were planned out by Gregory and cooked by the volunteers. We were joined by Sailor Jerry's rum and 6 Point Brewery. It was a thrill to see the ships sailing right by us. The Sailors and Coast Guardsmen stood at attention as they sailed by and were mirrored by the volunteers and guests who stood by the shore with flags and cheered.
Everything faced the water and past the huge flag and to the left was the Statue of Liberty. Past the flag and to the right was Freedom Plaza. It was a breathtaking backdrop for the event.
The first active duty military started to arrive mid afternoon and that's when a pleasant day turned magical. Jennifer, Phil and I had a concrete and definitive goal. We wanted the Sailors/Marines/Coast Guardsman to have a good time and to know how much they are appreciated. We wildly exceeded our goals. The smiles were huge. They didn't know what to expect as they disembarked from the ships and were clearly a bit overwhelmed. I think that the reception alone would have made them happy, but coupled with the amazing food, the great beer/rum and incredible ambiance, it was a fantastic day.
As the Sailors/Marines/Coast Guardsman approached the venue area they walked through a phalanx of cheering volunteers with flags that terminated in line of bagpipers welcoming them as they stepped right into the center of everything.
Around 5:00 there was a ceremony from the stage with military brass and politicians welcoming everyone to Brooklyn and the rest was partying! There was a lot of interaction between the pitmasters and the guests, lots of Sailors playing the various games that were set up and lots of wonderful food enjoyed.
The American Bombshells did an amazing job. They are a patriotic entertainment core of wonderfully talented women that perform at events like these and entertain veterans and troops. It's like they stepped out of a 1940's that should have been.
I wasn't the last to leave, but I left around 11:30. There was a tremendous amount of work put into this by all of the volunteers and it's hard to put into words how grateful Phil and I are to them and to Jennifer. It should be noted that her crew of volunteers did an amazing job of welcoming all of the guests, making sure everything kept moving, jumping in where needed, answering questions, removing garbage and just doing what needed to be done to make sure the event was a success.
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