January Update
Howdy All!
I hope this finds everyone well. Please excuse the length of this email, but there are several things I need to share with you about the opportunities coming up this year.
First, let me re-cap a bit of 2020:
Luckily, we were able to get First Cook 2020 completed just before the pandemic shut down last March. Unfortunately, our Annual First Cook Dinner was cancelled. Because we had plenty of prepared proteins on hand, we were able to continue servicing our clients on a reduced scale and following COVID-19 safety protocols.
1,655 meals were served to the Community, which included Lone Star Veterans, God’s Garage, local Law Enforcement, Upward Basketball, and the MISD Field’s of Faith service.
144 meals were served to our MUMC Children’s and Youth Ministries.
537 meals were served to our MUMC congregation through the One Sunday church service, Food Pantry training event, and meal distributions to our Homebound and Shut-in members.
386 meals were served to the Homeless through the Conroe House of Prayer (CHOP).
This resulted in a total of 2,722 meals with a volunteer rate of 209 Service and Fellowship Opportunities. (Service and Fellowship Opportunities, or SFO’s, are counted as each time a volunteer reports to a service.)
All things considered, we made the most of 2020. While we were able to maintain service, we made some new friends and picked up some new members along the way. Regrettably, we lost three of our dearest Cookers during this time; Grady Wilder, Carl Herring, and Kenny Maggard. While they will be sorely missed, we are joyed to know they have moved up to that more perfect cooking team in Heaven! We will always cherish our times of fellowship and service with each one of them!
Now we close the door on 2020 and launch into 2021 with faith, hope and anticipation. Earlier this month, our Board of Directors (Len Keeling, Bill Hanover, and myself) met to approve our initial plans for the year. I am pleased to announce that both Len and Bill have agreed to continue on as Directors for 2021. While we have already served at two events in January (God’s Garage and CHOP) we have lots more to come!
First Cook 2021 is currently scheduled for February 25th-27th and will be held at Montgomery United Methodist Church (MUMC). On Thursday afternoon, February 25th, we will meet in the Faith Center Kitchen and have our Brisket 101 class for those who are interested, and then prep the briskets and pork butts for our next days cook. Friday, February 26th will be our all day cook to be held in the East parking lot of MUMC. We will have at least two smokers on location to cook briskets, pork butts, and chickens. During the day we will have some specialty demonstrations on knife skills, meat warming, meal preparation. Lastly, we will meet on Saturday morning February 27th at MUMC to process all of the proteins from the previous day for vacuum sealing and storing. I will be sending out more information on this event shortly, so for now mark your calendar. Anyone wishing to attend and / or assist with this event will need to RSVP!
I’m pleased to announce that our good friend Rene Benitez of Northsiders BBQ has volunteered to conduct a one-day cooking class in honor of those Cookers we lost this past year. This class will be held in the East parking lot at MUMC on Saturday, March 13th at the MUMC Faith Center. Rene will be demonstrating cooking the major proteins (Brisket, ribs, and chicken) competition style. As a plus, his son is a Youth Competition Cook who will demonstrate his methods used in competition cooking. Both demonstrations will be performed exactly as they perform during an actual competition. This will be the perfect opportunity for both adults and youth to see first hand what occurs at a competition, but you will have the opportunity to see “behind the curtain” and ask questions. This doesn’t happen very often in the BBQ world, and we are very grateful to Rene and his family for their fellowship and sharing their talents with us! Again, you will need to RSVP for this event!
The Cookers have been working with Jacob Torrez, MUMC Youth Pastor, to find a way we can work more closely with the Youth. I am excited to announce that this summer during their Youth Camp in June we will be conducting a Youth Cooking Class. While the details have yet to be finalized, we will be teaching some or our youth how to cook on charcoal grills, gas grills, and offset smokers. We will cover everything from food/ cooking safety to preparation and service. We are already at work on the curriculum and will be looking for volunteers to assist in this effort! More information to come on this!
My old friend Kenny Maggard used to always bug me about when we would have an official website up and running. I will admit to you that I struggled with this! But like a lot of things in life, it was right in front of us all of the time. Thanks to Michelle Dabney, MUMC Communications Director, all of our MUMC Cookers information and current activities calendar is available on the MUMC website. You can check there for updates on dates and activities. The direct link is https://www.mumctex.org/cooking-ministry. We are also continuing to update our Facebook page as MUMC Cookers. And of course, you will continue to receive emails as the need arises. Thank you, Michelle Dabney, for your support!
So those are the “Big Ticket” items so far! Clients we are committed to so far this year include: God’s Garage, Family Promise, CHOP, and MUMC Youth and Children’s Ministries. As always, our primary goal is to train and be ready to provide emergency relief meals for our community should the need arise. All of these service opportunities keep us prepared to respond to those emergencies.
Since this is probably the longest email you have received this year, I will close now! I look forward to cooking and serving with you all! Remember that this ministry is open to all, and a great opportunity to invite a friend or youth to participate!
Please don’t hesitate to reach out if you have questions or concerns.
Steve Freeman
(713) 829-7781