A luncheon for the LEOs

For several years now, I have been a volunteer at my community's Public Safety Appreciation Luncheon. We prepare and serve a hot meal to several hundred of our local law enforcement officers (LEOs), and local citizens donate dozens of homemade desserts that fill table after table in the dining hall at our local fairgrounds. Here I am at yesterday's 25th annual luncheon, where I served alongside friends Pat, Ruth Ann, and Lisa, among many others.

My friend Norma is the ringleader of this event. She's in her eighties and can run circles around the rest of us. She's considered "The Mother of Public Safety" in Coweta County, and several years ago, the local LEOs all contributed one of their official patches so that it could be sewn onto a special apron that she proudly (and I mean proudly!) wears at the luncheon each year.

The meal is always a hit, and this year's menu featured pork loin, mashed potatoes, green beans, squash casserole, macaroni and cheese, and rolls.

The beverage? Tea, of course! (And it's good too. I always go for the sweet tea here because it is so good.)

It is always fun to see which desserts are a hit each year. Last year, lemon desserts were really popular. This year, the most-requested dessert seemed to be pecan pie, and we had whole pies …

As well as some individual ones too! My contribution, which I forgot to photograph, was a Heath Bar poke cake (the kind where you poke holes into a devil's food sheet cake and fill it with sweetened condensed milk and caramel topping before covering it with Cool Whip and Heath Bar bits). I was absolutely delighted when one woman came and asked for a piece of it "because I heard this was so good." Music to my ears!

Many of the officers like to browse all the offerings before making a decision. One rather robust-looking gentleman surprised his buddy by getting just a tiny spoonful of banana pudding. "What are you doing?" asked the man. The big guy responded, "I'm pacing myself." Ha!

Someone had packaged individual banana puddings in cute little plastic cups with "Thank you" stickers on top. What a nice touch!

We always encourage everyone to get more than one dessert, and when one man couldn't decide on a treat, I told him to get a piece of pound cake to take back to the office for his afternoon tea, which he seemed to think was really funny. (If he only knew that I was serious!) I truly believe this annual luncheon is a great idea, and I'd love to see other communities across the country do something like this too!