Traditional Rotary Chicken BBQ set for Sunday during Fall Festival
Todd Raska, Doug Willett and Bari Livsey are expecting about 8,000 folks for dinner Sunday afternoon during the annual Plymouth Fall Festival.
No pressure.
The three members of the Chicken Barbeque Committee of the Plymouth Noon Rotary Club have taken on the tasks usually performed by twice their number as they prepare for one of the largest and most labor-intensive activities during the festival. Raska said they are all taking the responsibility very seriously as they prepare for the decades old traditional barbecue in the community.
The Fall Festival Chicken Barbeque is one of the largest fundraisers the Rotary Club hosts each year, and the funds raised by the more than 700 volunteers who help prepare the dinners will be used to fund scholarships for local students, educational efforts, community projects, beautification efforts and even some world-wide efforts.
“Everything we do, the end is charity and donation,” Raska said. He added that one of the efforts he is especially proud of is donations to the Cass Homeless Shelter in Detroit. “We donate any leftover chicken dinners to them,” Raska said. “These people feed 450 meals a day, three times a day. The food cost at the shelter is about $14,000 a week to help people who are really in need,” Raska said.
He added that every year, the barbeque committee tries to ensure that there are meals left over to donate to various charities and shelters. The Cass group, he said, is one that does a great deal of good.
“When we donate a chicken dinner to them, they get five meals from that food. They make chicken soup, take the corn from the cob and use it in various soups. One of our chicken dinners goes a long way,” he said
“Last year was quite an experience,” Raska said about his work last year on the Rotary Barbeque Committee. There are usually six committee members but circumstances this year doubled the number of tasks for the volunteers while reducing the group by half.
Raska agreed it is a huge task but since the group has been hosting the dinners for nearly seven decades, there are procedures and longstanding methods in place to ensure the event is successful. It remains however, he said, a tremendous challenge to ensure all the details and efforts that take place behind the scene are accomplished as needed and on time.
“It does take some time to coordinate the volunteers and people volunteering, ensuring the borrowed equipment is in place and supplies ordered.”
Previous Barbeque Chairman Eric Joy “left some big shoes to fill,” Raska concluded.
The famous chicken dinners are available beginning at 11 a.m. Sunday and will be served at The Gathering, across from Kellogg Park where tables will be installed. There is drive through pick-up service available at West Middle School at Sheldon and Ann Arbor Trail.
“Everything we do, the end is charity and donation,” Raska said. He added that one of the efforts he is especially proud of is donations to the Cass Homeless Shelter in Detroit. “We donate any leftover chicken dinners to them,” Raska said. “These people feed 450 meals a day, three times a day. The food cost at the shelter is about $14,000 a week to help people who are really in need,” Raska said.
He added that every year, the barbeque committee tries to ensure that there are meals left over to donate to various charities and shelters. The Cass group, he said, is one that does a great deal of good.
“When we donate a chicken dinner to them, they get five meals from that food. They make chicken soup, take the corn from the cob and use it in various soups. One of our chicken dinners goes a long way,” he said
“Last year was quite an experience,” Raska said about his work last year on the Rotary Barbeque Committee. There are usually six committee members but circumstances this year doubled the number of tasks for the volunteers while reducing the group by half.
Raska agreed it is a huge task but since the group has been hosting the dinners for nearly seven decades, there are procedures and longstanding methods in place to ensure the event is successful. It remains however, he said, a tremendous challenge to ensure all the details and efforts that take place behind the scene are accomplished as needed and on time.
“It does take some time to coordinate the volunteers and people volunteering, ensuring the borrowed equipment is in place and supplies ordered.”
Previous Barbeque Chairman Eric Joy “left some big shoes to fill,” Raska concluded.
The famous chicken dinners are available beginning at 11 a.m. Sunday and will be served at The Gathering, across from Kellogg Park where tables will be installed. There is drive through pick-up service available at West Middle School at Sheldon and Ann Arbor Trail.
The dinners are priced at $17 presale and $20 if purchased on the day of the barbeque.
