The Table

While we have a thorough and important staff training, most of the good that counselors do with boys doesn’t come from training. It’s who they are - why hiring is really the most important part. Our camp doctor for the week and his wife and family sit at a table next to 10 Hunters (8 and 9 year olds) and two counselors.  Tonight after dinner they said, do you know that Wister is telling a multi chaptered story at each meal, all made up as he goes along.  I did not.  Each meal he adds a chapter.  The boys are rapt, looking down only to accurately scoop the next bite from plate to mouth.  They beg for the story as soon as they sit down.

The doctor’s wife commented how amazing it is that a few days ago most of these boys didn’t know each other or the counselors.  Now they are sharing a meal together, family style, and sharing laughter and stories.  With over 300 people at each meal, mostly young men and boys, our dining hall is certainly no picture of a Southern Living table spread.  But in little ways like that Hunter table it can surprise us how civil it can be.  And genuinely fun.  As fellowship around a table should be.

Food at Alpine is a big deal.  When my father in law, Dick O’Ferrall 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.

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 a 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. As we walked to the dining hall this morning an unmistakable smell wafted through the screen windows of the kitchen - bacon!  Served with French toast, fruit, granola, and yogurt.  Midday we arrived to turkey pot roast, steamed carrots, boiled new potatoes, and cornbread.  This evening a newer favorite greeted us: chicken spaghetti with buttered toast and green salad.

Thanks for reading and good night for now,

Glenn