TLDR: Holy Smokes was a huge success due to the leaders and parishioners of St. Dunstan’s. This week, in my exhaustion, I am feeling one primary emotion: gratitude.
My Favorite thing about the Holy Smokes BBQ was, well, everything. Thank you to everyone who participated, attended, or prayed for this event. The day was a huge success: there were 144 yellow cards collected for voting, 29 visitor bags handed out to families, ten teams, and all of us were winners. As the event planning continued, I believed that the event would be a huge success. I never imagined it would be this spectacular.
When Fr. Roman announced this event, I was excited and also afraid of failure. My calling as the curate is one that I take seriously and to me involves enacting Fr. Roman’s vision for growing the church. I love the idea of everyone gathering together, eating, and inviting the community. My fear around Holy Smokes was simple: I did not know anything about grilling, BBQ, smoking, or generally cooking outside. I still know very little about marketing for such a large scale event. Add to this the fact that for my youth ministry events, I never had to obtain permits from the fire marshall or the health department.
This event was made a huge success by the participation of the staff and holy smokes invite committee. Both made huge strides in order to make the event a success. Katie taught me about marketing. There were multiple times where I was in her office and she patiently explained to me what was needed to promote the event. Her campaign through the Houston Chronicle was the most successful the paper has seen in twelve months!
Similarly, Dede and Sarah put into action all the ideas in my head including decorating and organizing what would happen for Holy Smokes. We troubleshooted ideas to ensure the day was as successful as possible. Laurie, Kayle, and Laura helped immensely with obtaining the permits. Kayle even went out to the fire department to make sure they knew about our event! I could not ask for better support from a co-lead. Arden was in charge of safety and helped with the physical map alongside Katie and Sarah.
The committee was the brains behind the event: Cathy, Frances, Sandy, Manette, Evelyn, Elsie, Jerre and Chris were patient with me as we came up with ideas. Chris helped guide me with an organizing plan and packet. This will be my template for organizing events in the future. Each member of the team was essential in creating ideas and making the event a success. They even went out and gave flyers in the community. Some, alongside Betsy, the day of the event. Those adorable prizes were made by Sandy!
Lastly, and probably most importantly, I am grateful to Fr. Roman. His patience in teaching me about how to run an event and a committee were invaluable for Holy Smokes. Fr. Roman is creative and kind. His vision for Holy Smokes was nothing short of perfect.
Over the course of two and a half months I learned a great deal about outdoor cooking, I researched, listened, and even watched a Netflix series. Still, what I learned about smoking pales in comparison to what I learned about the generosity and hardworking nature of our parish. To all of you, thank you!
