What happens when two Irish Canadians get hooked up with a group of Dutch-Canadians with the Chatham Goodfellows?
We have our names changed, that’s what.
I became Bruce Corcoranstra and my Voice partner in charity, Jim, became Jim Van Blake. I was Friesian, and he was from the southern part of the Netherlands.
Chatham Mazda from Chatham Voice on Vimeo.
At least that’s what the Dutch fellows told us with a huge smile.
It was all part of the fun of the Street Sales on Friday for the Goodfellows. We volunteered several weeks ago, and spent from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. outside of Mark’s Work Wearhouse and Winner’s on St. Clair Street exchanging copies of the annual Goodfellows newspaper for monetary donations.
We weren’t alone. It was part of a Chatham-wide blitz that took place Friday and Saturday.
It was great fun, and for the most part we were greeted with friendly smiles and giving hearts.
Thanks to the generosity of the citizens of Chatham-Kent, the Goodfellows raised $36,100, which is $300 more than last year.
You do learn a few things while standing outside of stores in the late-afternoon chill. One is that young men, for the most part, don’t like to give to charity via volunteers standing outside of stores. Another is that, by and large, women do give in that manner, to the point they’ll poke their husbands to open up the wallet or coin purse.
I had one instance where a man offered up a loonie, which I was happy to accept, only to see his wife tell him to give more, as she said the Goodfellows were such a worthy cause.
Or there were ladies who, upon noticing me in my Santa hat and red Goodfellows apron as they walked up to the store, immediately starting digging into their purse looking for a donation.
As I mentioned, young, 20-something guys were for the most part the people who would avoid eye contact, say very little even when approached, and continue on their way. But there were some pleasant exceptions. For example, one guy told me he’d contribute when he came out of the store.
As he walked out, he handed me a $5 bill and said, “You guys do good work,” wished me a Merry Christmas, and continued on his way.
My two hours were up all too quickly and I relinquished my station, headed back to hand over my apron and all funds raised. It was an enjoyable time, helping a worthy cause.
Party time … yawn
Talk about getting old. We went over to hang out with friends Saturday mid-afternoon, and were home before 10 p.m.
The problems? Age and too much food on those darned Big Green Eggs.
Yeah, we were at Sensei Jeff’s place, the man with the two Eggs. We brought too much food; they had too much food, and we cooked too much of it.
It started as soon as we sat down. Jeff and Tammy pulled out their chicken and cream cheese dip. Shredded barbecued chicken thighs in a sauce atop a spicy cream cheese base, and covered in shredded cheese.
That dip is awesome. And filling.
Be we were just getting started. We put wings on the barbecue. And ate most of them.
Then came the Brie cheese with garlic, with ciabatta buns for dipping. Another filling dish. As great as that is, we had some left, as we and the kids were getting full.
Next up, bacon-wrapped wedge fries. These are sinfully delicious and easy to make. Yet they didn’t all get consumed.
And the finale for the night, chocolate chip cookies baked on the egg too.
Very tasty. Yet with four kids and four adults, they did not get inhaled.
I was stuffed after the chicken wings, let alone the Brie, or the fries. I didn’t even go near those cookies.
So four very full middle-aged folks played some darts, yawned, laughed and eventually gave in and called it an early night.
We went home with enough leftovers for dinner Sunday night.
And we didn’t even cook the rye and garlic shrimp I had planned on doing, or another batch of Jeff’s chicken thighs, or his pork burgers.
