Adult Social Hour (Food)

Number of People: 1 (and helpers)

Budget: $400- $500 (depending on how much you order from conference services, which is a more expensive way to do it)

Food Organizer is a demanding job logistically as at least 4 people are needed to carry it off each evening (1 experienced organizer, 1 assistant in training and a couple of helpers). There is planning and work before arrival to the island, and work each day of the conference. Although there is a lot of work involved, this can be one of the most rewarding jobs since it is better attended than any other conference event. The helpers should be responsible for setup and cleanup. This way you do not need to come early and clean up every night and your assistants are better prepared to handle the overall responsibility next year. You'll need about 3-5 helpers for the week for your table, and should make sure people are distributed fairly, e.g. no one who's eating lobster works on Lobster Night, if possible. Please also coordinate with the other two Social Hour Coordinators (Beer and Wine) to ensure an equitable distribution of work and helpers. The Food Coordinator is in charge of deciding if social hour needs to be inside Newton due to weather.

The budget is $500. Conference Services can provide some food platters such as vegetables and crackers, but these are expensive. Alternatively, you can bring veggies and cheese and crackers out with you, in addition, nonalcoholic drinks (soda, juice, seltzer). The beer organizer takes care of non-alcoholic beer. Email the previous food organizer which was Fink in 2017. We expect the social hour to break even at worst. Social Hour is not a profit center so any excess donations go into the All Star II account. The past few years, we have collected a small surplus, which makes this whole event work! You can either front the money to buy food, or get an advance from the treasurer (Tim Flint). In either case, settle up with the treasurer at the end of the week. Supplies get a little more expensive every year, but clearly it is possible to break even. Soliciting donations can be a bit tricky so a person with a booming voice can be very helpful, especially Thursday & Friday evening when shoalers need a reminder. Please remind shoalers that the conference does NOT pay for social hour - they must do so through their contributions.

Food supplied is food eaten; because of this, we may want to scale back the amount of food that is offered up. In past years, food was bought out until 6, 6:10 at the latest. Once it was gone, it was gone.

The supplies are delivered by the Pelicans from the dock to the kitchen at the back of Newton Center and are stored under lock and key. Get the key from the Hotel desk when you arrive on Saturday, and check to see that all supplies have arrived at Newton. If something is missing, speak to the Troubleshooter. Be sure to do this as soon as you get off the boat, as you are expected to attend orientation also.

Conference Services provides glasses, bowls, platters, melted butter, knives, and other supplies. You may order from the island “food order form” if you inform the chairs before the end of May (they must submit the order before June 1st). We get charged large amounts for platters of veggies, etc., so whatever you can get via volunteers hiking things out from the mainland is preferred. Meet with the Conference Services Pelican at the front desk (usually 5 minutes before dinner) on Saturday evening to arrange for these items to be delivered to Newton Center by 4:30 each afternoon.

Please confirm with the chairs, BEFORE the end of May, what your conference food order should be. Food is ordered via conference services “food order form” which must submitted before June 1st. This list has a category of “Social Function Fare” which includes juices, soft drinks, vegetables and dip, cheese and crackers, fruit platter, lemons, limes, and ice. We will order the same food as last year unless you specifically ask for something different. Note: for 2013 Nancy suggested we go with conference service veggie platters on Saturday (so workers can attend orientation)and on Friday (when any fresh food would start going bad). The rest of the food would be provided by the social hour food group. Do not order fruit for social hour because it doesn't go well with wine or beer.

This job is a huge undertaking and requires a serious commitment in planning, communication, shopping, packaging, organizing and setup. Your efforts are most appreciated. THANK YOU!!!

Last Edited by Kathy West - June 2018

Purchased in 2012: (may want to change this to reflect shortening the time that food is offered, and since we may be ordering from conference services only on Saturday and Friday.)

20 2-liter bottles of Soda (diet and regular, variety), seltzer, fruit juices

6 limes, 6 lemons

1 bottle hot sauce

1 bottle tobasco

6 boxes triscuit

1 64 oz bottle mild salsa (you can make differing levels of hotness by adding hot sauce to it).

5 smaller bottles salsa (eg. mango, or black bean)

12 6 packs of n/a beer (4 of O'Douls Amber, 4 of Odouls regular and 4 St. Pauli Girl NA)

1 box food service gloves

2 bags popcorn (there is a popcorn popper in newton)

The following was from Costo (so you have an idea as to size of package)

Jar hidden valley ranch

Box water crackers

2 containers spinach dip

1 container hummus

2 bags baby carrots

1 bag celery

2 bags red peppers

2 bags broc

2 bags cucumbers

7 bags chips, scoops etc

2 containers goat cheese

3 container blue cheese

1 brick 3 year cheddar

3 mini bries

1 brick pepper jack

1 container gorganzola

1 brick jarlsberg

1 container garlic/basik

1 round gouda