If you feed them,

they will be a much happier work crew.

When i mentioned, the other day, that i was doing the snacks for the volunteers for Vacation Bible School this past week, commenter Tabor asked when they had started serving food at VBS.

Ever since my eldest went to his first VBS about 17 years ago, every church VBS i've seen has had a break room with some snacks for the volunteers.

That's a lot of VBS's, because we used to do two or three each summer, one at our church, and sometimes the one where the kids were in AWANA and the one where i was working at the Mother's Day Out.

My favorite volunteer position is snack lady, keeping the volunteer room stocked so every volunteer has a break during the morning to get some refreshments.  Little Girl comes to help, and loves it, too.

They like it when i do the snacks.  At the church Sweetie and i now attend, i have the break room to keep stocked, and i make a tray to take up to the ladies who teach music, and i make a tray for the people teaching gym, and i make up a rolling cart to take to the nursery hallway.

We do four days, and for starters i set out mini donuts, or small muffins, or scones, along with coffee, so when the volunteers come in at 8am they have something to grab (or hand their own kids to keep them quiet for a few minutes).

Using the old crock pot with the non-removable crock from the early 70's, i warm up cheese sauce and set up a nacho station.  Then i have lemonade and water available, and a trail mix/candy table.

Trail mixes and candy, and a note about the ones with nuts in them.

There's always a table with fruit tray, veggie tray, and cheese, as well as apples and a slicer and some caramel sauce for caramel apple dipping.

Fruits and veggies with dips, caramel apple dip tray, and cheese cubes.

Finally, i have a dessert tray going and i fix a hot snack each day.  Tuesday was mini quiches and toasted spiral sandwiches, Wednesday was Bagel Bites and Pizza Rolls, Thursday was a variety of quesadillas, and yesterday was spring rolls and egg rolls.

Quesadillas, with a few leftover pizza rolls and bagel bites, and desserts.

Yesterday was an especially long day, as i had Bible study at 6:30am and by the time we had let everyone come and eat all they wanted while doing clean up, we packed the leftovers for a needy family, delivered it all, and then went to the cat shelter for our Friday night rounds.

If anyone wants me today, i may still be lying down.  Disturb me at your own risk!

Today is

Advice-to-the-Lovelorn-Day -- date, in 1896, the New Orleans Picayune first published the advice column of Dorothy Dix, Mother Confessor to Millions; it eventually ran in 300 papers for 55 years

Art Fair on the Square -- Madison, WI, US (one of the Midwest's largest juried art fairs; through tomorrow)

Bald In - Bald Out Day -- sponsored by Bald Girls Do Lunch; if men can be bald and brazen, then women and children who cannot grow hair should bring bald INto their lives, and never feel on the OUTs!

Bohemian Club Annual Rites begin -- Bohemian Grove, CA US (if you are into conspiracy theories, this is supposedly when and where the male movers and shakers of the world meet for two weeks and decide the fate of the world for the next 12 months; the members of the club, including former presidents and other high level officials, do meet for a couple of weeks this time of year to have, among other things, a Cremation of Care ceremony)

Bonfire Night -- Northern Ireland (precursor to The Twelfth a/k/a Orangemen's Day)

Bowdler's Day

Carver Day -- George Washington Carver National Monument, Diamond, MO, US

China National Maritime Day -- People's Republic of China

Convenience Store Day -- the first Seven Eleven opened on this day in 1927 in Dallas, TX; it was open 7am to 11pm, thus the name

Day of the Flemish Community -- Flemish community of Belgium, commemorates the Battle of the Golden Spurs of 1302

Feast of Theano, Philosopher, Mathmatician, wife of Pythagoras, patron of vegetarianism (date approximate, supposedly when she was born)

Feast of Min -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (date approximate)

Free Slurpee Day at Seven-Eleven -- if you have these stores where you live, stop by between 11am and 7pm to get a free 11.7oz. Slurpee (TM) today

Galicnik Svadba -- Galicnik, Macedonia (wedding festival, when one lucky couple gets to be married in a traditional "Galichka" style wedding, through tomorrow)

Harrison Festival of the Arts -- Harrison Hot Springs, BC, Canada (a celebration of the world of music, dance, theater, and visual arts; through the 19th)

Imamat Day -- Ismailism

Naadam Festival -- Mongolia (a/k/a Revolution Day/National Day, traditional sporting events nationwide, but best at Ulaanbaatar, through the 13th)

National Blueberry Muffin Day

National Cheer Up The Lonely Day -- begun by Francis Pesek of Detroit, Michigan; he chose to spend his birthday as a day to promote kindness, especially the forgotten at nursing homes and shut ins who have no visitors

Omaha Railroad Days -- Omaha, NE, US (sponsored by the Union Pacific Railroad and celebrating all things track and train, through tomorrow)

Pori Jazz Festival -- Pori, Finland (a major international music event with world class performances; through the 19th)

Reading Guilt Day -- the day you are supposed to start reading that book you only read the Cliff's Notes on in school

Sodbuster Days -- Fort Ransom, ND, US (learn how rural North Dakotans lived in the early 1920s; through tomorrow)

Sourdough River Festival -- Edmonton, Alberta, Canada (Float Fest and a big water fight! with the famous Sourdough Raft Race tomorrow)

St Benedict's Day (Patron of agricultural workers, cavers/speliologists/spelunkers, civil engineers, coppersmiths, farm workers/farmers, Italian architects, monks, people in religious orders, people who are dying, school children, servants who have broken their masters belongings, students; Europe; Heerdt, Germany; Norcia, Italy; Subiaco, Italy; against erysipelas, fever, gall stones, inframmatory diseases, kidney disease, nettle rash, poison, temptations, and witchcraft)

Stone House Day -- Hurley, NY, US (tour of several 250+ year old stone houses within 150-yards of each other)

West Quoddy Head Light Keepers Association Anniversary and Annual Lighthouse Celebration -- Quoddy Head State Park, Lubec, ME, US (music, food, artists, and also including US Coast Guard supervised lighthouse tower climbing, for the daring!)

World Population Day -- UN


Birthdays Today:

David Henrie, 1989
Marie Sernehold, 1983
Michael Rosenbaum, 1972
Justin Chambers, 1970
John Henson, 1967
Greg Grunberg, 1966
Rod Strickland, 1966
Al MacInnis, 1963
Lisa Rinna, 1963
Richie Sambora, 1960
Richie Sambora, 1959
Suzanne Vega, 1959
Mark Lester, 1958
Sela Ward, 1956
Leon Spinks, 1953
Stephen Lang, 1952
Bonnie Pointer, 1951
Beverly Todd, 1946
Giorgio Armani, 1934
Tab Hunter, 1931
Harold Bloom, 1930
Yul Brynner, 1920
E.B. White, 1899
John Quincy Adams, 1767


Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Space Oddity"(Single release), 1969
"The Newlywed Game"(TV), 1966
To Kill A Mockingbird(Publication date), 1960


Today in History

Admiral Zheng He sets sail on his first exploratory expedition for the Ming Dynasty, 1405
Samuel de Champlain returns to Quebec, 1616
Jews are expelled from Little Russia, 1740
Halifax, Nova Scotia is almost completely destroyed by fire, 1750
Captain James Cook begins his third voyage, 1776
Jacques Necker is dismissed as France's Finance Minister sparking the Storming of the Bastille, 1789
French astronomer Jean-Louis Pons made his first comet discovery (he discovered 36 over the next 27 years, more than any other person), 1801
Vice President of the United States Aaron Burr mortally wounds former Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton in a duel, 1804
Waterloo railway station in London opens, 1848
Tijuana, Mexico, is formally founded, 1889
The Lumière brothers demonstrate film technology to scientists, 1895
Babe Ruth makes his Major League debut, 1914
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is first published, 1960
The first U.S. space station, Skylab, is destroyed as it re-enters the Earth's atmosphere over the Indian Ocean, 1979
According to the UN, the Earth's population crosses the 5,000,000,000 mark, 1987
The United States announces it will reestablish full diplomatic relations with Vietnam, 1995
Colton Harris-Moore, the so-called "Barefoot Bandit", is caught in the Bahamas after a 2 year manhunt, 2010