By: Beth Stauffer
I have an eight year old son, and recently for his birthday we had the honor of hosting six of his friends for an overnight sleepover. Everything was going great until… we ran out of food at 10:00 p.m. No joke, I had to make an emergency run to Kroger at 10:30 p.m. on a Saturday night because we had depleted literally everything in the house with the exception of a box of expired microwave popcorn and a gallon sized jar of jumbo kosher dill pickles in the fridge.
This situation left me a little concerned for what is to come as my son gets older. How will we afford to continue to feed him, much less a small entourage of his friends? Will I need to get a few part-time jobs? Will we need to take out a second or, heaven forbid, third mortgage, to afford the grocery bills that are a-brewing with a teen son in our near future?
I was an anxious mess thinking about this, until I heard about something called “Team Eats” for the Football Team.
Yes, as the name implies, there is a group of individuals who take it upon themselves to feed our very own New Haven Bulldogs football team every week.
Seeing as how I couldn’t even manage to feed seven hungry eight year olds for one night without a crisis, I was intrigued how this group manages to pull off feeding over 62 hungry football players and coaches each week on Thursday night in the high school auditeria.
I had to see this first hand, and perhaps, take notes for future sleepovers at my house.
Marijane Crowe, mother of New Haven Bulldog #22 Travis Crowe, is one of the organizers of the weekly Team Eats event, and says that different families pitch in each week to help feed the varsity football team. On the day I visited the Team Eats, the players were enjoying a homemade smorgasboard of the following delicacies:
• 2 large roasters full of chicken and noodles filled with 30 pounds of chicken and 12½ pounds of noodles
• 150 servings of mashed potatoes
• Large pan of chicken dumplings
• Large Crock pot of Green Beans
• Large Crock Pot of Corn
• 10 dozen dinner rolls
• Generous assortments of cookies and brownies
• 15 gallons of drinks
In case you were wondering, there wasn’t much in the way of leftovers (but at least they didn’t have to run out to the store for reinforcements!)
For sure, this weekly fall tradition is looked forward to and savored by the Bulldogs each week, providing a time for camaraderie and bonding before the big game on Friday night. This Friday, the Bulldogs will battle for Homecoming glory against Belmont at home, sustained by another Team Eats that will take place on Thursday.
As sure as the Bulldogs have high hopes for winning on Friday night, I, too, have high hopes for future slumber parties knowing that it is possible to feed groups of 62 high school, football-playing young men as long as you have a little experience and purpose!
