4th of July Fireworks
Once again this year our council were honored to be able to attend the Macy’s Day fireworks from on board the USCGC Katherine Walker. This is one of our yearly events which starts with the council cooking for and serving the crew and their friends and family.
Thanks to Lt. Torrey C Jacobsen CO of the USCGC Katherine Walker for extending the invite to us to participate once again this year.
We bring the food, we cook it, we serve the crew and their guests, then when everyone else is fed – we get to eat. This year we prepared kielbasa, hot dogs, burgers, prime rib, lasagna, salads, meatballs, and more… The cookies Christine brought were a big hit with both kids and adults alike!
In addition to feeding the crew and their guests (well over 100 people) we also prepared packages of food for the small boats which were providing security to ensure (for their own safety) that the public did not approach too closely to the firework barges.
The Katherine Walker acts as a control center for security including for US Coast Guard personnel, as well as NYPD and FDNY.
Guests on board included family members and friends of the crew as well as Captain Tama, Commander Sector New York, Captain of the Port; Congressman Max Rose (NY-11); Jeh Johnson, former Secretary of Homeland Security; and his wife Dr. Susan DiMarco, who is the ship sponsor for the Virginia Class submarine USS New Jersey (currently under construction).
Attendees from the council were:
- Christine Aaron supplied London broils and cookies, also purchased the chicken with her own money
- Lindsey Brickell, guest, runner, server
- Gary Chapman, cook, food prep, cleanup
- Ken Connors, server
- Daniel Dermer, food prep, cleanup, planning
- Anthony Englert guest, runner, server
- Steve Gonzales, guest, griller, server, cleanup
- Frank Greco, server Fran Gregor, food prep, server, runner
- Dave Guirguess, griller and server
- Marissa Guirguess guest, runner
- Janet Hutton, food prep, server
- Steve Hutton, set up, runner, server
- Jean Lazicky, guest
- Kevin Maguire, guest, food prep, runner, server, did more to help than anyone else
- Bob Mechler, guest, griller and server
- Laurie Mechler, guest, server
- Lynn Recca, guest, food prep, server
- Greg Varga (President), server
- Charlene Velez, server
- Joe Velez, runner, server
Special thanks to Gary Chapman who spent a lot of his time in the galley cooking and cleaning; Dan Dermer who purchased & cooked food as well extensive time consuming planning and organizing for the event; Christine Aaron who purchased much of the food, as well as everyone else who pitched in where they could serving or running food trays back & forth to keep the line stocked.
Also we’d be remiss if we didn’t thank Jersey Shore BBQ who generously donated FOUR HUNDRED chicken wings. They have two locations: one in East Brunswick and another in Belmar. Thanks again JSBBQ
Photos by Stephen and Janet Hutton