Mom and I had an interesting day today. We made pizzas. Lots of them. Or rather, we
helped make pizzas. And when I say lots--it definitely was lots. Like about 2200 - 2400. Yep. (I said we
helped...)
Here's the story. Last fall, Dad's nephew M (20) got sick and sicker. In the end, he was put on kidney dialysis while he recovered his strength enough to have a transplant. (
As far as I know, no one really knows why his own kidneys failed.) Initial plans were for his twin bro to donate a kidney but because of a prior accident and scarring, he was eliminated. Two of his older sisters were also matches. One is a mom; one isn't. I don't know how they worked that out between them but K, the unmarried sis with no children gave one of her kidneys to her bro 2 1/2 weeks ago. Both are doing very well.
Both are Amish, as is the whole family. ie- No insurance. The church will help cover the costs. But they're also doing a pizza drive tomorrow to help defray costs.
So, this morning, a pole barn (
clean;
very clean, thanks. No kidding.) was set up for assembly line pizza production. Three long rows of tables covered in clear plastic. Eight or nine stations marked out on each side of the tables. Tubs of ingredients down the middle of the tables- someone on each side of the table working out of each tub.
A pizza supply company brought refrigerated trucks with the pre-cooked, shredded, diced, etc, ingredients.
The pole barn was set up right to left with the far right end being for opening huge cans of sauce; bags of ham, sausage and pepperoni; big bottles of oil... whatever was going (I only worked on meat lovers; have no idea what went on the supremes) and dumping them into big tubs. Production started with stacks of pre-baked crusts. Each person did one thing to the pizza and pushed it down the line. Crust on cardboard circle -> Oil -> Sauce -> Sausage -> Ham -> Pepperoni -> Pepperoni -> Cheese -> Bag it (2 man job) -> Box it. Someone at the end of each table marking pizza boxes with an 'M' (meat lovers) or 'S' (supreme). And 3 guys like my uncle (Dad of the surgery kids) loading boxes on dollies and running them back up into the refrig trucks.
Production was supposed to start at 12. Word at my aunt's yesterday was get there early, it'll start earlier. We got there about 11.15 - right in the middle of lunch. They'd started sometime around 9.15 and had already done
1000. Things started back up at noon. Sometime around 2 or 2.30 we ran out of sauce (this was a major miscalculation or something. There was more on the way but the truck hadn't arrived yet) and everything stopped. Mercifully. There was coffee and lots and lots of very yummy homemade cookies and cakes and trailmix and that sort of thing. And coffee. Did I mention the coffee??? ;)
Mom and I left about 3.15 (no sauce yet; I think there were a bunch more of the cousins' friends and relatives coming later... I hope). My aunt estimated that they had about 600 - 800 left to make at that time. They were planning on making 4000, total.
So, from 12 - 2, 2.30 approx 2200 - 2400 pizzas were assembled.
No kidding- that's a lot of pizza.
Neat stuff
- 2 tables (4 lines) doing meat lovers; 1 table (2 lines) doing supreme.
- 2 pepperoni stations/line- each person did half the pizza; one did 8 slices, one did 7
- Sharpie marker instructions at each station telling specifically what to do (ie- 1 level cup of cheese/pizza; 7 slices pepperoni; etc...)
- lots of boxes of latex gloves around-- not so neat if you have a latex prob :( .
- backless Amish church benches with legs collapsed along the outside edges of the length of the tables, also covered in plastic. This provided a raised working space for us to slide the pizzas along. It also meant the tubs were in a depression in the middle of the tables and easily available to both people with no sliding around of the tubs.
- there were a lot of men involved. Now, a lot of the guys were somewhere else at a job. But there were a lot of them there, too. I don't know how many people helped but I'm guessing around 100 - 150 while we were there.
Tomorrow morning, the family goes at 6.30 to divide the pizzas into 'bundles'; each bundle goes with a clear plastic-wrapped map with a fairly small route marked in red. Cars are supposed to be on site at 7.10 to be loaded. Each team - consisting of a driver and a 'runner' - takes off and covers their designated area. There will be people back on site with cell phones monitoring the whole thing. If a team finishes their area and has pizza left, they'll be sent to someone who needs help; if a team runs out of pizza, another team will come to help or more pizza sent out to them.
One thing that stands out to me about this is how supremely well organized it all is. Believe me, today's work (from where I was working- cheese first and then pepperoni (8 slices, thanks))- went off with only the sauce hitch. I mean- 2200 pizzas in 2+ hours... that's efficient. We walked in and started working. There were a few ladies (aunts on the other side of the family, I think) running the thing and they had it under control.
Dad, Mom and I are going in the morning with 2 cars... maybe my bro, P, too?
So- did you also notice that there are a lot of cars involved? ;) I don't know how many teams there will be but quite a few, I think. Here's the thing- My cousin M is a young guy- 20. He's not married (but has a girlfriend). He has a truck (a NICE truck) and so do a lot of his over-16-also-not-married buddies. NE IN has a very large Amish population. The area we'll be working in is heavily populated with Amish. There are a lot of vehicles in the neighborhood. ;)
And No, I didn't get a pic. I wanted to. Very much. I even had my camera. But I didn't. It was an impressive setup and operation. But, well, they're my family, a lot of them; they officially don't want pictures taken. They might have let me had I asked. But in the end, I didn't want to put anyone on the spot.
UPDATE:
Several have asked about the follow-up of the pizza day- this is long overdue.
Dad, Mom and I were on deck at 7.20 am Saturday (the following day) to help sell pizzas. There were 30 teams working Amish neighborhoods. I drove; my cousin and 1 of her young cousins took the pizzas and the collection bucket to the doors. We started out with 95 pizzas; by 10.10, we were out of pizzas.
Note- you can show up at 7.something AM at an Amish house and sell them stuff... and they'll be smiling and dressed and buying... and in the middle of their day's work. Well- if you're Amish or your cause is tied to them, that is! ;)
Amish areas have an 'Amish Directory'- sort of like a plat book- very detailed maps showing individual property- only they include only the Amish of that area and are organized by church district. Each team had copy of a page or 2 from the Directory with a highlighted route to follow. Our route was about 4 - 5 miles long. We drove into the yard of each Amish home, the 2 girls with me went to the door, explained what the pizzas were for and usually sold at least 1 pizza. Everything was by donation. Money (or checks) were collected in a plastic ice cream bucket with a hole cut into the lid. Several people gave $$ but wouldn't take a pizza.
Since they have no health insurance (or any insurance), they expect to help each other. It's part of being a member of the church, as nearly as I could tell. We only stopped in at one 'English' (non-Amish) place because of close ties between them and my aunt and uncle and their family. The area our team was in is so heavily populated with Amish that there is some sort of fund-raising drive there nearly every weekend.
Our group got back in pretty good time. Mom and Dad were way out on the western edge of things so were among the last to get back. While I waited for them, I hung around drinking coffee and chatting with my uncle's family while they sorted and counted the proceeds (and then sent them to the bank). They needed to average just over $5/pizza to break even and had nearly doubled that by the time we left. My uncle was pleased. (I have no idea what kind of a dent that made in the total cost of the operation.)
