These MDS workers cook up a storm

MINOT, N.D.—Job Snapshot: Creative cooks to produce three substantial, from-scratch meals per day for groups of five to 35.

Successful candidates must be able to:

·         Travel and remain away from home for up to two months

·         Work, standing, 12 -13 hours per day, seven days a week

·         Plan menus and prepare meals to meet nutritional needs of hard-working laborers

·         Shop for ingredients, as needed (often daily)

·         Wash dishes, pots, pans; maintain sanitary kitchen

·         Exhibit excellent time-management skills

·         Adapt to a variety of cooking/baking equipment

·         Work flexibly to serve variable numbers of people each day

·         Get along with many personality types

·         Work within an adequate but not extravagant food budget

·         Exhibit flexibility in housing arrangements

This non-salaried, voluntary position is especially suited to widows, 65+ years of age.

While Mennonite Disaster Service (MDS) does not actually post this or a similar job description, it has such positions and, remarkably, finds individuals willing, able, even happy to take them on.

Anne Friesen, 71, and Tina Heppner, 68, both of Altona, Manitoba, are spending October as cooks for MDS workers in Minot, N.D.  (Actually, “chefs” might be a more appropriate term: “pork medallions with peach sauce,” for one, borders on the gourmet.)

When Heppner lost her husband five years ago, Friesen, widowed for 18 years, reached out to her. Heppner joined a quilting group Friesen belonged to and the two became fast friends.

Heppner had filled in, as needed, as a Bible camp cook with another friend and enjoyed the experience. She knew Friesen had cooked at a private high school before retirement. Why not turn their interests into an opportunity for service and adventure?

The duo is now in their fifth shared MDS assignment, each three weeks to two months long, since 2008. They’ve cooked for hungry MDS crews in Mobile, Ala.; Dulzura, Calif. (twice); New Orleans and now in Minot. They collaborate so well that they only accept assignments together.

“We never need to discuss what we have to do; we just go and do it,” Heppner said. “Baking comes natural to Anne.”

“Tina is at the meat end,” Friesen adds.

This labor division gets them through the supermarket efficiently. On days when they’re buying some $600 to $1000 worth of groceries, they often miss an afternoon break.

The women rise at 5 a.m. to prepare breakfast and lunch. (They provide lunch fixings for volunteers to prepare their own sack lunches). By 1 p.m., they’re usually able to take a break—naps, showers, walks—until they cook dinner and clean up after it, from 3 or 4 to about 8 p.m.

All meals are “from scratch,” for economy and taste. With her past experience as a school baker, Friesen conjures up oatmeal-raisin cookies and pumpkin-cranberry muffins as effortlessly as a magician pulling scarves from a hat.

Friesen, who had never been far from home, was at first hesitant to leave her Manitoba-based children and grandchildren for extended periods.  But both she and Heppner have embraced the Internet and Skype as means to stay in touch. “The time away flies,” Friesen said. “After our two months in Alabama was up, I wasn’t ready to leave.”

Because cookbooks are heavy to lug around in suitcases, the women employ their laptops to stock a portable base of favorite recipes, many of which come from congregational cookbooks. “The recipes are tried and true and don’t use outlandish ingredients,” Friesen explained. They take advantage of the Web as well. Favorite site? Mennonitegirlscancook.ca. They also frequent the Taste of Homes and Kraft Foods sites.

They approach menu planning by creating a “rough sketch of the week,” Heppner said. “We can’t follow it exactly because things change quickly.” (Leftovers to use, for example.) “We’re nearly always searching for recipes.”

One recent evening, the women heard the story of a mature music-loving couple who had managed to remove their baby-grand piano from their home—with ingenuity and help from random “angel” passersby—just before the Minot flood evacuation siren blared. Hearing clients’ stories keeps the cooks grounded. “My heart gets into it so much more because I know why I’m here,” Friesen said.

The two friends are certainly not in Minot to enjoy luxury accommodations. They’re “camping out” in a little room of Congregational United Church of Christ, which has offered its facilities to MDS. The women experiment nightly with different ways of stacking their inflatable mattresses and foam pads, trying to find the most comfortable combination. In Dulzura, they slept in an old RV. “It was fine as long as it didn’t rain,” Heppner said. “The roof was leaky.”

“I like to say we go on all-inclusive vacations, room and board provided,” Heppner said with a mischievous sparkle in her eyes.

Surely they receive some stipends? Tips? “Occasionally, but we return them to MDS, along with our expenses reimbursements,” Heppner said.

Any complaints? “I think too much appreciation is given for our meals,” Friesen said.

Yeah, like who would show enthusiasm for homemade, from-scratch meatloaf, scalloped potatoes, cooked carrots, Caesar salad, and lemon/coconut bars after a day of hard physical labor? The nerve!