May News
The 2nd Annual CAFC Empty Bowl Soup Take-Out Fundraiser is a GO!
Please plan to join us for Take-Out Soup on June 10, 2020. We are working out details but here is what we know so far. Our 2nd Annual Empty Bowl Event will take place in the Country Girl Parking Lot from 4-6 on Wednesday, June 10. Your Empty Bowl Meal will be by donation and will be a Soup Tower in a Bag. I just made that up and my husband thinks it is confusing but I am going with it. At the bottom of your bag will be a beautiful hand-painted ceramic bowl. Next is your soup take out container topped off by Orchard Hill bread and dessert by famous Chester bakers including Southern Pie Café and Chef Garrison from Lisai’s. Other bakers will remain anonymous until I can convince them to go public!
Now for the SOUP! So far, we have four soup chefs who are not anonymous. Chef Jason, who made ALL the soup last year is back with his famous Lobsta Chowda. Chef Christine from Rowell’s Inn is making an old family recipe, aptly called Mom’s Tomato, Potato, Noodle Soup. Chef Jess, our host this year, is contributing her famous Corn Chowder. Chef Garrison, the new proprietor of Lisai’s, is making his debut with cold strawberry soup – YUM!
We are close to announcing one more chef who will be preparing a vegan soup selection.
Watch this space.
Oh…I almost forgot. We are limiting soup meals to 150 because that is how many beautiful bowls we have. Melissa Howe, proprietor of Endless Creations Pottery and Event Chairperson worked with many CAES and GMUHS students to paint these bowls. That activity, however, was curtailed due to the “Stay at Home” advisory.
But we persevere. A plan for reserving your Take-Out Soup Meal will be announced, along with our Vegan Soup Selection, SOON. We promise.
New Look at The CAFC Thrift Shop
It is amazing what can be accomplished wearing a mask and observing six-plus feet of social distancing. With lumber donated by VT Hardwoods and carpentry donated by HB Energy, the Thrift Shop has new shelving. How about a family project and a can of paint? That combination resulted in a freshly painted floor in the Thrift Shop. And what happens when the Thrift Shop management team starts reorganizing fixtures? A new, wide-open floor plan to allow shopping with social distancing happens. You need to know that this was not all planned. Can you remember the time you painted the table in your kitchen and then your cabinets looked terrible? And once the cabinets were newly painted you simply had to do something about that floor.
So, over the past few weeks, thanks to family groups or teams of two volunteers at a time, the Thrift Shop has gradually transformed into a new, clean bright space. We think you will love it as much as we do.
We are working hard on a plan to reopen, trying to consider how to do this being mindful of the safety of our volunteers and customers. Stay tuned…we are getting there.
The Raffle is Coming
Who needs knitting needles? And…just not any knitting needles but hand-crafted needles made especially for the family Center by Tom Diak. If you are not a knitter, I’ll bet you have a cherished friend or relative who absolutely needs DyakCraft Needles. Linda and Tom are generously donating a set of their needles along with a few other surprises for a CAFC Fundraiser Raffle. The dates are not yet firm but here are a few details to provoke your curiosity. The raffle will be online and last three days. There will be one prize valued at $1000. You will not be able to resist buying many, many tickets.
We have a couple of technical loose ends to work out but getting closer every day to launching. You will have plenty of notice. Watch this space.