The scene: Costco
in San Diego. a couple of miles from where the Blue Devils are putting the finishing
touches on their 2001 show.
The players: Three members of Devils’ Food, the crew that’s
been cooking for the Blue Devils for the last dozen years, and one very
confused check out clerk.
The source of the confusion: $1,700 in groceries the trio has lined up.
It’s the first time the clerk has seen someone with 30 pounds of sausage,
12 pounds of pancake mix, 25 dozen eggs, 330 pounds of spaghetti noodles,
30 pounds of home fries, eight number 10 cans of spaghetti sauce, 60
loaves of bread and 30 gallons of milk.
“They ask us things like, ‘are you with the army,’” says
Sandy Gist, one of the crew since 1989. Other clerks ask if they are feeding
a troop of monkeys. Some just raise their eyebrows and are afraid to ask what’s
happening.“They
think we’re nuts when we come through (the check-out line)
says Eldon Conklin, also a veteran since 1989.
Whatever the reaction at the store near the high school where the Blue
Devils are practicing before a show, for the Devils’ Food Crew of Conklin, Gist
and Carol Vargas, who cook three nourishing meals out of a converted semi-trailer
for 140 kids every day of a several weeks long tour, it’s just another
day at the outdoor office.
What brings them back, year after year? “I’m just amazed at the dedication
of the kids, seeing how hard they work,” Conklin said. “The time they
put in on the field is amazing. The kids just keep getting better and better
each year,” says Gist, whose own son, Alvin aged out of the Blue Devils
in 1989. “They keep you smiling, keep you young. You get attached to them. “
With
another school gym to park the Devils’ Food truck next to every day,
what gets the Devils’ Food crew excited? “There was the time in Tulsa
when we were parked in a parking lot right next door to a Sam’s Club. We
could go there in our golf cart (for the daily $800 grocery run),” Gist
said. “That was the highlight of the tour.”
You can imagine how expensive it is to feed all those hungry young men and
women. If you would like to help, you can help offset the cost by donating through
our online store now.To donate now ...
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