Week 62 (8 - 14 April)

Monday morning, we left for the USO at 9:00 am and Joyce Schellhorn (Director) and Dave Ostrum had opened. The plan of the day was “No Dough” and Pam went to the kitchen and stayed most of the day cooking chicken and getting it ready to make Quesadillas. During the first hour we had a number of volunteers arrive and helped with the food prep. I set up the main room with the help of a community service volunteer. Both Joyce and Dave had to leave for periods of time during the morning, so I manned the office while they were gone. By noon the salad bar was ready, desserts were out, and we got an influx of sailors from the USS Iwo Jima who came to help assemble the Quesadillas. They did a wonderful job and by 3:00 pm they had over 300 in the warming ovens. One of the volunteers from the Iwo Jima was Blake Harris, a member of the church. Both Pam and I got a chance to visit with him for about 15 minutes. He was not being allowed to reenlist during the summer because of health reasons and is planning on returning to school to earn a master’s degree and we hoped the best for him. Megan DeGance roared in about 2:00 pm and used many of the volunteers to set up the lounge area with her Disney gifts and paraphernalia to giveaway at the dinner. Finally, at 3:00 pm Pam and I were done for the day and left. We did a little shopping and had a late lunch. While eating it began raining with thunder and lightning and we had quite a show. Later in the evening we received a call from Joyce about tomorrows activities and she indicated they served 400 and the Quesadillas were a huge success.

Tuesday morning, we left for the USO at 10:00 am. Upon arrival no one was in the office and we found them outside in the storage room sorting food that had just been delivered by Feeding Northeast Florida. Pam went into the kitchen to clean up and put away from last night’s No Dough dinner and I helped Dave Ostrum and two other volunteers stuff bags with meat and place them in freezers for the food giveaway on Thursday. When the meat was done, we attacked two bins of prepared food items and sorted by type and placed them on the shelves. We also emptied a bin of peppers and placed them in the refrigerators. Megan DeGance arrived about noon and began working on bags for Saturday’s “baby shower” activity. They brought out all the goodies she had ordered last week, and they filled bags and I brought out diapers and wipes from the outside storage room to include in the giveaways. By 2:00 pm that was done, and we all took a breather and Pam and I left shortly thereafter. At the apartment Pam did some sewing and we settled in for the evening. We visited with Stephanie Jarvis during the day and she was feeling better and also with Tara Alexander and planned to visit her and Wes tomorrow.

Wednesday morning, we had a few extra hours before leaving and Pam spent the time working on “Diaper Cakes” for Saturdays USO event and then we left for the USO at 10:00 am. Joyce Schellhorn (Director) was there along with Mike OBrien and many of the USO hierarchy. Last night they set up the north side for a Jacksonville Military Coalition luncheon today from 11:30 until 2:00 am and closed the USO for normal patrons during that time. Jim & Carmel (Reid) had opened and were in the office and we bounced around helping here and there with last minute requests. I went outside with Jim and assisted visitors with parking and filled the lot by the time the luncheon began. We then sat in the office and tried to be quiet while the meeting was ongoing. “Jersey Mike’s” a local sandwich shop catered the luncheon and they had plenty of food and drinks. I didn’t pay too much attention to the presentations, but several individuals gave reports on what their part of the organization was doing for the military. At 1:30 pm the meeting ended and then a lot of small groups formed and that went on for another hour. We helped clean up and take care of leftover food and then Pam and I left about 2:00 pm. We visited the Alexanders and Wes was home and it was nice to see the entire family and they seemed to be doing all right. At home we did some preparation for tonight’s Temple lesson and at 7:00 pm drove to the base and stopped at Jenny Blacks and gave her a birthday card and cake as today was her birthday. We visited with her for a few minutes and she was doing okay, just wishing her hubby could have come home. Finally, we arrived at the Lagae’s and met with the Perry’s and Lagae’s. They were very excited about the lesson and had a lot of comments about conference and their successes and failures at watching it. We proceeded through the lesson with many excursions here and there, but after two hours concluded and said our goodbyes. It had been a busy but good day.

           Thursday morning, we left for the USO at 8:30 am as we are opening this morning. A Feeding Northeast Florida truck was in the parking lot and had been there since 8:00 am. We opened the building and shortly thereafter Dave Ostrum came, and the truck unloaded 2 pallets of items into the outside storage room (pet food and diapers). We moved fresh produce from the refrigerators inside for the food distribution today and then about 10:30 am the giveaway began. Pam worked at the sign in table and I was outside distributing meat and diapers. Shay Tuttle came with her baby and we visited, and she went away with a lot of food and other items for their home. After the initial rush, I went with Dave Ostrum to a storage facility down Mayport Road and brought 10 round tables back to the USO for Saturday’s “baby shower” event. Pam put together 4 more Diaper cakes and finished everything so that they eventually had 12 centerpieces for the baby event. Pam and I finally left at 2:00 pm and had lunch and returned home. 

Friday morning, I got up early and Pam joined me at 6:30 am and said she didn’t feel well, thought she might have some food poisoning. She got something to drink and went back to bed. I checked on her from time to time, but she was quite sick and needed to stay in bed and after discussing plans for the day decided she would stay at the apartment and I would go help with the food delivery at the USO and then come home. Dave Ostrum had opened and within 30 minutes, Beam’s showed up with a huge load of meat and produce. Julie Davis and Joyce Schellhorn (Director) had also arrived and helped. We had the coolers available and began going through the meat boxes and sorting by type. We filled up 3 large coolers with pork, beef and chicken and took the remaining meat to the storage room freezers. We also received zucchini and cabbage and that was easy to take care of. When done Dave sent out a Facebook notice of the delivery and hoped patrons would take advantage of the food. We also separated chicken wings and drumsticks for the next No Dough dinner and ground beef for a future dinner. Dave set aside meat and produce to take to Camp Blanding, south of Jacksonville, for 10 Army families down there. I was about to leave with Joyce asked if I could take a large mirror to Jacksonville Beach City Hall and give it to Gerry from JIA USO. He and Robin of NAS Jax USO were doing an event there. I said yes and also would make a deposit for her. We got the mirror loaded into the van and I set off and located Gerry and Robin and made the exchange. I made the deposit and returned to the USO with the receipt and left for home. Pam was sound asleep when I arrived at 12:30 pm and when she woke up, she was still not feeling well but hadn’t thrown up for a while. I drove next door and got some food items Pam wanted and then fixed them and she nibbled a little through the afternoon. Gradually she did better and better but stayed in bed and slept most of the time. By evening she was able to sit up and concentrate on her tablet for a while, but finally went to bed for the night by 9:00 pm.

Saturday morning, Pam came into the living room at 7:00 am and was feeling better and had some toast and then returned to our room, but she was up and walking and that was progress. I updated this file and did some studying before commencing housework. We vacuumed, dusted and did laundry all morning long. At noon we drove to Wal-Mart and bought a card and present for Stephanie Jarvis (Birthday) and drove to their home in Neptune Beach, but she wasn’t home. We had some lunch and returned to our apartment where we continued laundry and had a quiet afternoon. Pam had a good day today.  

Sunday morning, I wasn’t sure Pam was up to going to church, but she insisted she try, and we left for Jacksonville Beach at 9:30 am and attended sacrament meeting in the Beach Ward. It was a full house today and we were joined by Jenny & Olivia Black, Lance & Stephanie Jarvis, Chris & Shay Tuttle and Tyler Gneck from our military family. Marisol Perry gave the first talk and did a wonderful job. She was petrified, but it didn’t show, and we were proud of her. Following the meeting we gave Stephanie a birthday present and wished her a belated Happy Birthday and then returned to our apartment. Pam lay down and rested which was the best medicine. We had some lunch and enjoyed a quiet afternoon watching a couple of movies on the Mormon Channel. Pam talked with Erin for a while and Miles was thrilled with the “Flat Stanley” pictures. A good week.

Example of Diaper Cake Pam created

It was a great day...

Sorry but we didn't get any pictures this week. Will try and do better next week!