The Rippey United Methodist Church had a successful day serving RAGBRAI.
The day finally arrived when the riders came through Rippey. We had been planning for months. Pete and Yvette Bardole headed up our committee.
They organized, bought groceries, planned for an outside tent and the equipment for serving outside. People signed up for pies, gave money, and promised to help.
The plan was to serve 1,000 riders. We actually served more than that. We had help and donations from the Perry U. M. Church, and Fairview Church of our Parish. We also had people helping from both churches. There were 30 actual helpers that day, but many more helped before. It couldn’t have gone smoother. There were so many donations of money and pies ahead of time, which we were grateful for!
As one of the “older” members, my feet hurt but I tried to keep moving. We had members older than me stay by the sink all day! I’m impressed.
The servers and money takers outside really never got to eat! In fact none of us got any protein, but the melted ice cream was put in a cup to drink. That gave us a few calories. The riders didn’t want us to throw away the pickle juice!! They needed the salt.
We ran out of meat and buns. There was some ice cream left and a few pieces of pie.
The riders appreciated the air conditioning! It was scary when we were cutting pies the day before and the air conditioner quit!! The repair man was close so he came and ‘jerry-rigged’ it to work! Bless him! I’m sure there will be more to do to fix it.
We plan to give 10% of our profit to Midwest Missions in Jefferson. They will receive a nice check.
I’ve never seen so many people in Rippey. It was even hard to get in to deliver roasters at 9 AM. I hope everyone had success and thought it was worth it. I know our Church is pleased. It was a lot of hard work by everyone but the reward was great!!
THANK YOU EVERYONE!