For Whom the Bell Tolls
At Alpine we live on a bell system. A large bell hangs suspended at one corner of the dining hall and can be heard throughout most of camp. Most of the time a bell ringing means one of two things: the start or end of an activity or time to eat!
Food at Alpine is a big deal. When Dick started camp his father gave him one piece of advice. His father, by the way, was Dr. Carter O’Ferrall (hence my wife’s name) a much loved physician in Jackson, MS who had delivered most of the boys who camped at Alpine those first few years. So his advice was that no matter what else you do don’t skimp on the food. Serve quality food that boys will eat. And so that is our goal every summer.
The dining hall is one of the greatest experiences at camp. We eat family style, large heaping bowlfuls of each item carefully placed on each table only minutes before the dinner bell rings, in hopes that we can still see steam rising when we arrive. Boys sit at the same table all term, with usually 10 boys their age and 2 or 3 counselors. Some will be from their cabin and a few others from the cabins right around them. We enter the dining hall in a shockingly orderly manner for over 300 hungry men and boys, each receiving a squirt of hand sanitizer on the way in the screen door. Standing behind our chairs, we resist grabbing that loose hanging piece of bacon as we await the Program Director’s call to sing the blessing.
There are 3 blessings, one for each meal, that we have been singing for as long as I’ve been at camp. And I am pretty sure much farther back than that. The last note of “Amen” is usually mixed with the beginning sound of 300 plus chairs pulling back as we take our seats, eager to pass what’s in front of us and catch the next bowl headed our way.
We place an emphasis on manners and service at the table. Not a white table cloth, cotillion type manners. More like: this is a community and we have to think about others type table manners. When we’re hungry, food can bring out the most selfish sides in all of us, and I include myself and all the other staff in that category. We actually spend a lot of time in Staff Training talking about it. We are very intentional in how we treat the table experience. It’s an intimate experience and boys take away a lot from their time in the Dining Hall.
We pass all the food around in one direction. We each take a reasonable portion to make sure everyone at the table gets a little bit (this does not come so naturally when you’re hungry! Sometimes our instinct is to pile as much on our plate as we can without regard to the others.) We wait until everyone at the table has been served until any of us takes the first bite. It all seems sort of obvious as I write it but when you get 12 or 13 hungry males at a table it takes practice and self discipline.
And of course there’s plenty of food and the high school boys on Work Crew are happy to come and refill our serving bowls and platters. Lunch today was breaded chicken breasts, potatoes au gratin, steamed broccoli. Also at lunch a salad bar is available with a lettuce mix and spinach leaves plus an abundance of toppings. Tonight we were greeted with an Alpine favorite: Homemade Mac and cheese, pinto beans, ham slices, cornbread, and salsa. Many folks around here like to mix it all together and top it with the salsa. It’s really good I promise! The kitchen boys offered cold, washed apples as we left the dining hall. Also, at both meals boys can choose to eat an Uncrustable premade peanut butter and jelly sandwich. We use the Uncrustables to avoid peanut butter on the tables for allergy purposes.
Thanks for reading and good night for now,
Glenn
