Happy Belated Mother’s Day to all the Mothers out there!
This year Plenty Belize (my host organization) hosted its 2nd Mother’s Day Banquet. The event was held on Saturday evening, one of the local politicians was having a large event on Sunday and we did not want the competition. The event is organized by the Board of Directors as a fund raiser for Plenty, last years event lost $400.
Planning began back in February, it looked as if everything was set. All the board members and staff were asked to sell 4 tickets for the event, a seemingly easy task. I was only able to see 2 of my tickets, some people did not sell any. The food was based on the expected amount of attendants. I was asked/volunteered by the board members, to make pizza as an appetizer for the event. I spent most of Saturday in the kitchen preparing 6 pizzas for the banquet (I have been keeping track of the number of pizzas I’ve made this year, so far it is 55).
Mark, Plenty’s Executive Director arrived at my house around 5:30pm to bring me and the pizzas to the banquet. I had yet to bake the pizzas, the plan was to bake them at the banquet facilities. The event was scheduled to begin at 6:00. Luckily everyone (Guests, Servers, Board Members, and other kitchen helpers) showed up late. The first pizzas were out of the oven around 6:30, just as people were sitting down and enjoying their drinks.
The evening went well, entertainment was provided by a local band and group of drummers from a neighboring village. I spent the evening in the kitchen watching pizza cook, washing dishes, and drinking a few beers. Contests were held throughout the night for the mothers, my favorite was the “cry like a baby” contest. Other not so exciting ones included; the tallest mother, oldest mother, youngest mother, most pregnant mother, mother with the most kids (12).
It was a fun evening, I am still not sure of the official numbers but it looks like we did worse then last year. I guess I should have sold those two other tickets. Oh well, at least the food was good!
