Soup’s On! Luncheon Provided Fun For Chefs And A Lesson That Homelessness Is Not Limited To Strangers

While Downtown Dallas Kingpin John Crawford was doing his state-of-the-downtown presentation Tuesday at the Omni Dallas, Dallas Mayor “Big Mike” Rawlings wasn’t there. Nope. Sporting a new haircut, he was over at Union Station front row center for the Soup’s On! luncheon benefiting The Stewpot. While this pick of the two lunches was tough, he probably was loyal to his friend/luncheon honorary co-chair Tom Dunning, who convinced Big Mike to get involved with the homeless situation back in 2005. That involvement led to his running for mayor a year ago. Tom explained the night before at the patron party Monday night how widespread homelessness is, how everybody knows somebody who’s been homeless: a brother, sister, etc.

But back to Tuesday’s lunch where Big Mike, who is known for being right at home at The Bridge, was surrounded by the likes of underwriting chair Jan Hegi, Erin Mathews, David Nichols and luncheon keynote speaker Jeannette Walls.

But we’re getting ahead of ourselves. Before Mike arrived or any of the guests like Connie O’Neill, Barbara Stuart, Robyn Conlon, Susan Nowlin, Jill Smith, Caron Prothro, Harriet Miers, Joanna Clark and Becky Sykes

took their seats in the Grand Hall, Chief Chef Brian Luscher of The Grape was back in the kitchen describing the work done by The Stewpot and going over plans with the celebrity chefs (Bruno Davaillon of Rosewood Mansion on Turtle Creek, Kevin Garvin of Neiman Marcus Restaurants, Keith Hanks of The Capital Grille, Matt McAllister of Campo Modern Country Bistro, Janice Provost of Parigi, Abraham Salum of Salum and Komali and Randall Copeland of Restaurant AVA) who had prepared soup for nearly 600 guests.

As dedicated and hardworking as these talented chefs are, they were thoroughly enjoying the opportunity to help Brian and The Stewpot and . . . seeing each other. These guys and gal are a neat group who checked their egos at the doors and really got a kick out of working together.

But the time wasn’t long before they had to head to their prep stations to get the soup ladled out.

Back in the Grand Hall, Ed Bernet had the always-in-tune-and-inspiring Hamilton Park Men’s Choir take the stage and that got guests moving from the silent auction of art by Stewpot artists in the Frisco Room to the Grand Hall for the main event.

Emcee Gary Cogill took over the stage from the choir and got things rolling by confessing that this event was his “favorite afternoon of the entire year” and adding that he get “teary-eyed” when he thinks about the plight of the hungry and homeless.

Following the invocation by Dr. Joe Clifford, The Stewpot Alliance Luncheon Chair Tonya “Toni” Meier  acknowledged the various people for the day’s success. But she also added that next year’s (January 29, 2013) co-chairs Kay Lunceford and Trish Weigand would have a project in their sights for fundraising — 508 Park, a new outreach program for The Stewpot.

As Toni spoke, the aroma of herbs in simmering soups flooded the room as a parade of staffers brought bowls. (Editor’s note: The room was divided into eight sections. Each section got a different soup.)

Gary returned and made a failed attempt to introduce the eight chefs. Alas, they were getting their soups on the table and didn’t have time for the spotlight.

Gary suggested that everyone sup their soup and enjoy their entrees with the promise that the chefs would be introduced in 10 minutes. In addition to eating, guests checked out their favors that included bowls created by The Stewpot Artists and the eight signature soup recipes.

At 12:20 the chefs had finished their projects and were relaxing in the Central Depot room when Gary came back to thank them and tell them the POA.

Three minutes later the introductions were underway. Unfortunately, one poor wait staffer didn’t get the memo and wandered down the v-e-r-y narrow aisle leading from the Central Depot to the stage. What was he doing there? Why checking for dishes to remove. Now normally that would be applauded, but in this case he didn’t realize that he was blocking the chefs from walking up to the stage. That situation was quickly resolved when a management member of the Union Station team advised him to get out of the way.

After the chefs were officially introduced and presented with platters from The Stewpot artists, they moved to their section to talk with their guests and make sure the soup was to their liking.

It was then time for Jeannette to talk to the crowd. The willowy former MSNBC journalist and author looked like a Crystal Charity member or perhaps a former Junior Leaguer. For those who hadn’t read The Glass Castle, they were probably hunkering down for a talk by a high society fundraiser on the plight of the homeless. Ah, but others like co-chair Sally Dunning had read Jeannette’s book and knew better.

Blending humor with touching firsthand experiences of a childhood that amazed the vast majority in the room, Jeannette told of growing up with well-meaning but nomadic parents. Highlights included

• As a celebrity correspondent, she was being driven to a “fancy party” in NYC andsaw a homeless woman rummaging through trash. She sank down in the cab when she realized the woman was her mother. Her problem wasn’t so much that her mom was living on the street as much as others would discover Jeannette’s secret.
• She was taken to the hospital at the age of three because her dress had caught on fire when she was making her meal.
• In West Virginia she envied a friend because his family actually had a coal-burning stove.
• Her father “gave” her Venus for a Christmas gift and promised one day to build a “glass castle” in the desert.
• Her boyfriend (who eventually became her husband) told her that the scars from the childhood burn were beautiful because “scars are a sign that you survived.”

Strongly suggest that you either read Jeannette’s The Glass Castle and/or checking this video on Jeannette that includes footage of her mom. Unfortunately, during these times Jeannette’s story is not the exception in the world. Luckily, The Stewpot and good people, like Toni and the chefs, are pulling together to help them not just survive but succeed.

Tagged as: Jeannette Walls, Soup's On!, The Stewpot