The GEM staff work two shifts of four days each. Within each shift, there are two other 12-hour shifts to provide 24//7/365 care of the GEMs. They overlap on Thursday for meetings and other events, in addition to taking care of the children. When a team visits GEM, it is customary to host a lunch party for the staff on Thursday.

The theme of the party is the Wild, Wild West. Karen and I made two trays of Lunch Lady Peanut Butter Bars. Judi and Jeff were cutting butter into small cubes so it would be easier to melt, Karen is shown either melting chocolate or butter. I provided the muscle to mix the ingredients, press the completed dough into the sheets, and add an even coat of melted chocolate on the top. The next picture shows the two completed trays of bars chilling to allow the chocolate and butter to set up. The last picture depicts our Pastor Vince preparing bandanas for the party.

The party itself went without incident. The party hosted by the prior team was rained out. I think the staff really enjoyed the various games, BBQ lunch, and dessert! For the games, we had a three legged race, a relay race with spoons and eggs, a bean bag toss, and a ring toss. We had red vines for a consolation prize and assorted prizes for the winners of each game. For party favors, each guest received a bandana of their choice of color and a name tag showing their “cowboy name”, made by encoding the first letter of their first and last names and their birth month. My “cowboy name” was Emmett “Bullseye” Hunter! Yee Haw!