It pays to BBQ

To the Editor:

Thank you to everyone who came out to support the Co-op this past Saturday at the BBQ Fundraiser. Your food purchases and donations added up to $3,206.02 that will be used to renovate the existing café space in the Co-op.

Almost 300 meals were served by a great lineup of local chefs. Cham Williams and Dusty Huellemeier from Union Jerk not only donated the use of their BBQ trailer, they also donated their proprietary Cham Pan chicken sausage along with jerk pork sausage and a dry rubbed pork shoulder. Ron Ippolito from Swarthmore Collision donated his famous homemade Italian sausage, and along with Eileen Kulp, grilled them up and served them with all of the fixings. Tim Smith from the Swarthmore Beer Company contributed all of the delicious sides.

Of course, it took more than great food, there was also a wonderful team of volunteers who all worked together at the event. A special thanks goes out to Brent Elliott, Shannon Elliott, Vince Barrett, Anita Barrett, Chris Hunter, Rob Borgstrom, Jordon Zeitz, Pat Francher, Frank Stransky, Eli Zeserson and Co-op manager Mike Litka. They all donated their time and energy to make this work. 

Final thanks go out to the Co-op board members: Donna Francher, Jill Gaieski, Mark Rossi, Barbara Amstutz, Jennifer Smuts, Ines Rodriguez, Stephanie Edwards, Lori Knauer, Greg Bockman, and John Moots. They listened to what at the time sounded like a pretty far-fetched and ambitious idea and then embraced and supported it. We are all lucky to have such a talented group guiding the Co-op at this challenging time. 

If you couldn’t make it to the BBQ but are interested in donating to the cafe renovation and learn more about this plan, check out the GoFundMe page at: gofundme.com/swarthmore. It really takes a village sometimes. We hope to see you sometime soon in the new Co-op café!

Ben Carone
Swarthmore