Deploying with OBR

20stone

theyolksonyou said (about me)
In the limited amount of time I've spent with him at brisket camp, I can believe that. Good guy. 

texaswig said:

Also @20stone is kind of a jerk. That's probably reason why we get along .  that and our common mutual love for Hall & Oates. 

One of you clearly knows me better. Also, time for the (early) morning shift. What the hell was I thinking

The Cen-Tex Smoker

Sun's out! 

Foghorn

Gun's out?

The Cen-Tex Smoker

Actually, it's not out yet. Good morning Houston. 

The Cen-Tex Smoker

In case we gave the impression that this has been all cooking all day...we have stocked way more coolers, dumped way more grease trap buckets, hauled more boxes, and wiped down way more tables than cooked food.

@20stone hauling ice for drink coolers at 6am. 

The Cen-Tex Smoker

DoubleEgger

texaswig said:

Also @20stone is kind of a jerk. That's probably reason why we get along .  that and our common mutual love for Hall & Oates. 

I Can't Go For That

The Cen-Tex Smoker

Sunrise over the city

Foghorn

Very nice.  Keep up the good work in Houston brothers.

In San Antonio, I called it quits about 10 PM last night because I have to work today.  However, at that time the plan was to send a shipment at 5 AM that contained 2 loads.

1) First stop will be Rockport to deliver some of our uncooked food (pork loin, veggies, etc) to some BBQ brothers who will be fired up and ready to receive food to cook at 8 AM 

and 

2) a second stop in Port Aransas where they will deliver 500 pounds of chopped brisket with associated sides, etc that have been cooked and refrigerated for them to warm up on site.


Apparently, Port A doesn't even have power, but there are some guys there with big offsets who can warm up the food in time to serve it for lunch.  The ferry to Port A still isn't working so the trip from Rockport to Port A may take up to 2 hours (normally a 15 minute drive plus a short ferry across a channel, now requires driving to a bridge at the far end of the barrier island...)

Our group has been diligent about following the health code, even going so far as to take pictures of a Thermopen in every tray of meat to show a temp over 140 so that if anybody gets sick from any of this, the problem wasn't on our end. 

Yesterday's delivery to Victoria was coordinated and personally delivered by Ernie Zuniga, a San Antonio TV anchor who is from there.  He covered it on Facebook live.  Last evening when he (and his family and friends) returned the coolers he had used to transport the food, we had them join us for dinner.  They told us that many of the people they fed hadn't had a hot meal for days.  
https://www.facebook.com/erniezuniga/videos/1471995339528527/

DoubleEgger

I'm glad there are some out of staters with OBR. I can imagine the look on a Texans face when someone gives them 500lbs of pork to cook. "I've never seen pork before, what do I do with it? Does it cook like a brisket?" 

Foghorn

The Cen-Tex Smoker said:

Foghorn said:

We're in the periphery of this so we're lightweights by comparison. 

Pretty tight operation for some comp teams who got together to help out

@The Cen-Tex Smoker,  it really is.  The organizational skiss is remarkable, but this isn't their first rodeo - literally.  A number of them sit on the board of the San Antonio Stock Show and Rodeo so they are well-connected and are used to working together.  Having the backing of the CEO of Santikos Entertainment is huge as well.  They provided an onsite RV and a lot of the food.  The CEO is an old friend of mine who is my connection to this group.  He has supported a fundraiser each of the last two summers where 5 of these teams cooked together for a "Ribs and 'Ritas" event to support a local charity that one of the cookers founded with his wife.  He knew of my interest in BBQ and got me plugged in with these guys.  He came out twice yesterday to see how things were going and the evening ended with us sitting around smoking cigars together.  It was a good day.

Foghorn

DoubleEgger said:

I'm glad there are some out of staters with OBR. I can imagine the look on a Texans face when someone gives them 500lbs of pork to cook. "I've never seen pork before, what do I do with it? Does it cook like a brisket?" 

@DoubleEgger, that's what we did.  We just cooked them like a brisket we were planning to chop.  

Foghorn

And I got text confirmation that my daughter has found 20stone in Houston and is helping with OBR as well.   What was I thinking when I directed her to find @20stone, @caliking, and @The Cen-Tex Smoker, and help them out?

20stone

Foghorn said:

And I got text confirmation that my daughter has found 20stone in Houston and is helping with OBR as well.   What was I thinking when I directed her to find @20stone, @caliking, and @The Cen-Tex Smoker, and help them out?

...and she is already on the job. How did a guy like you end up with TWO great kids?

Foghorn

20stone said:

Foghorn said:

And I got text confirmation that my daughter has found 20stone in Houston and is helping with OBR as well.   What was I thinking when I directed her to find @20stone, @caliking, and @The Cen-Tex Smoker, and help them out?

...and she is already on the job. How did a guy like you end up with TWO great kids?

They're smart enough to learn from from my many negative examples. 

caliking

@Foghorn kudos for pitching in in SA. You've put in some long hours down there to help get hot meals to people. I can't even imagine what it must feel like to be flooded out of your home, etc. but still be able to put hot food in your belly. 

To the many folks who have donated to OBR - you should see what your donations do. This isn't an outfit where the leadership strut around in spotless custom embroidered workshirts, telling other folks what to do. They're toiling away with everyone else, sweating it out in an asphalt parking lot just like everyone else. I don't know how the money flows, but what I do know is that for the past few days, i have seen semis roll up on the regular. Packed with meat and supplies. And an army of people cleaning, rubbing, packing, distributing, throwing out the garbage, etc. Its really an impressive spectacle.

And about the food- they have served 100K+ meals (I think) in 3 days. Its not the stuff that a bunch of geeked out food nerds on a bbq forum would dish up for a party at home, but it is wholesome grub. And there is a LOT of heart in what is being done. Its not just sending off loaves of bread and stuff to make sandwiches with. Folks are getting a complete meal - meat, veg/side, bread, water, and a small sweet treat. The pork loin gets some sauce. The pulled pork is seasoned as its chopped, and gets some sauce when it gets panned. As I was assembling trays of mixed veg yesterday, a guy walked around reminding us to add salt and pepper to each tray. There was meat being added to the beans, where just beans would have been fine. That's some attention to detail, and to me its about respecting the people who are being served. 

I'm not back there today, so your daughter will have to deal with @20stone and @The Cen-Tex Smoker by herself. Although CT's better half should keep things in check. 

caliking

DoubleEgger said:

I'm glad there are some out of staters with OBR. I can imagine the look on a Texans face when someone gives them 500lbs of pork to cook. "I've never seen pork before, what do I do with it? Does it cook like a brisket?" 

Since OBR is based in the Midwest, there has actually been a conspicuous absence of beef at the Houston deployment. But there is waaaay more than 500lbs of meat going through the cookers here. And plenty more on the way. 

caliking

The Cen-Tex Smoker said:

That's the 40K lbs of chicken from Delaware. They are ready to send another trailer just like it, if needed. 

DoubleEgger

Thank you so much for all you and your Pops have done @caliking. It's truly impressive. I'm worn out after cooking at Butt Blast, I couldn't imagine how worn out everyone is after putting out that amount of grub. Man handling 1000s of pounds of meat is no easy task. And the trucks don't stop coming.... 

caliking

The Cen-Tex Smoker said:

In case we gave the impression that this has been all cooking all day...we have stocked way more coolers, dumped way more grease trap buckets, hauled more boxes, and wiped down way more tables than cooked food.

@20stone hauling ice for drink coolers at 6am. 

You haven't lived until you've cleaned out the meat coolers. Breathed in a heady mix of cleaner fumes for a couple of hrs, and had some appreciation for what it feels like to be a middle schooler.

 Some of the degreaser sprayed on to my glasses and melted whatever coating was on the lenses, so I guess it was doing a good job on tackling the grease. 

caliking

DoubleEgger said:

Thank you so much for all you and your Pops have done @caliking. It's truly impressive. I'm worn out after cooking at Butt Blast, I couldn't imagine how worn out everyone is after putting out that amount of grub. Man handling 1000s of pounds of meat is no easy task. And the trucks don't stop coming.... 

My 81yo Pops is a machine. He's been all over the place at OBR, barely sitting down for a minute. Much as I roll my eyes at him for many of the things he says and does (or wants to do), he still inspires me to be a better person. So I try to not roll my eyes that much

The Cen-Tex Smoker

caliking said:

DoubleEgger said:

Thank you so much for all you and your Pops have done @caliking. It's truly impressive. I'm worn out after cooking at Butt Blast, I couldn't imagine how worn out everyone is after putting out that amount of grub. Man handling 1000s of pounds of meat is no easy task. And the trucks don't stop coming.... 

My 81yo Pops is a machine. He's been all over the place at OBR, barely sitting down for a minute. Much as I roll my eyes at him for many of the things he says and does (or wants to do), he still inspires me to be a better person. So I try to not roll my eyes that much

Pops is a beast! 

20stone

caliking said:

DoubleEgger said:

I'm glad there are some out of staters with OBR. I can imagine the look on a Texans face when someone gives them 500lbs of pork to cook. "I've never seen pork before, what do I do with it? Does it cook like a brisket?" 

Since OBR is based in the Midwest, there has actually been a conspicuous absence of beef at the Houston deployment. But there is waaaay more than 500lbs of meat going through the cookers here. And plenty more on the way. 

The eschew beef because of cost and the relative difficulty of getting it cooked right and being good after holding. 

However, they do cook whatever gets donated (in quantity). Smaller stuff ends up feeding the volunteers after being cooked on volunteer pits, and all the chicken is being done be competition cooks on their rigs for the higher precision and separation of chicken cooties from other stuff. 



We just sliced, sauced and stacked 36 restaurant pans worth of pork ribs, loaded them on a truck, and out they go. 

The Cen-Tex Smoker

@Foghorn

She was here 5 minutes and already in the mix cranking out the pulled pork for lunch today. 

20stone

Foghorn said:

Very nice.  Keep up the good work in Houston brothers.

In San Antonio, I called it quits about 10 PM last night because I have to work today.  However, at that time the plan was to send a shipment at 5 AM that contained 2 loads.

1) First stop will be Rockport to deliver some of our uncooked food (pork loin, veggies, etc) to some BBQ brothers who will be fired up and ready to receive food to cook at 8 AM 

and 

2) a second stop in Port Aransas where they will deliver 500 pounds of chopped brisket with associated sides, etc that have been cooked and refrigerated for them to warm up on site.


Apparently, Port A doesn't even have power, but there are some guys there with big offsets who can warm up the food in time to serve it for lunch.  The ferry to Port A still isn't working so the trip from Rockport to Port A may take up to 2 hours (normally a 15 minute drive plus a short ferry across a channel, now requires driving to a bridge at the far end of the barrier island...)

Our group has been diligent about following the health code, even going so far as to take pictures of a Thermopen in every tray of meat to show a temp over 140 so that if anybody gets sick from any of this, the problem wasn't on our end. 

Yesterday's delivery to Victoria was coordinated and personally delivered by Ernie Zuniga, a San Antonio TV anchor who is from there.  He covered it on Facebook live.  Last evening when he (and his family and friends) returned the coolers he had used to transport the food, we had them join us for dinner.  They told us that many of the people they fed hadn't had a hot meal for days.  
https://www.facebook.com/erniezuniga/videos/1471995339528527/

That is awesome. It's great to see the hard work making a difference. 

SoCal_Griller

I have made my donations and would be there if I could.  Thanks to all who are there, you are having an impact on people's lives.  Nothing more noble than serving those in need.  God bless you all.

The Cen-Tex Smoker

We had a great shift this morning and found plenty of stuff to do. Janell and I had to head back home (after a 2 Bloody Mary brunch and a nap). Got home to people hoarding gas and food like they were in the disaster zone even though we are 200 miles away. I already miss the "we are all in it together" vibe we were feeling in H-Town. 

Wish we could has stayed longer but family duty called us back. My wing was functional but throbbing pretty bad by the time we pulled out of town. I wish we could have done more but proud of the work we did this week. Was so nice to see first AND 2nd gen forum people (Fog, you have a lot to be proud of) helping out this week. 

Thanks for following along. I think some of our Houston crew have more to come but TFJ and I have punched our time card and the baton has been passed. 

We are whipped but fulfilled.

Good night

lousubcap

In addition to all the personal efforts mentioned in this thread (and those are the greatest asset to the recovery) I know your documentation has provided great impetus to dig a little deeper and help OBR again.  Thank you for the dedication and the behind the scenes insights.  

thetrim

Great summary and some ass kicking work y'all are doing!   When do scalpel meet flesh, @The Cen-Tex Smoker.  Good luck!

Foghorn

Thanks for starting this thread and allowing me to pile on with the rogue barbecue relief report from San Antonio.  Thank you also for the kind words about my offspring.  I won the lottery there.

Just as importantly, thanks for looking out for my daughter today and helping her get engaged with the program.