Resting and taking stock

The crew were exhausted after cooking about 600 plates of spaghetti. People from throughout the Island helped, but, the man to my left in the group picture, Lawrence, and his wife, Jane, contributed their lovely home and hospitality throughout. With donations the financial goals were met in a timely manner. This was a tremendous effort for volunteers. The spaghetti received rave reviews...

Bless the cook! Let's eat

These are the creators of one great plate of Spaghetti with meat sauce.

Good friends cooking a spaghetti dinner for 1000

Cooking a spaghetti dinner for a thousand people in American Samoa is much like the same job in Louisiana. Find a church, (in this case the Cathedral of the Holy Family), get some hard working volunteers (including my Jewish golf partner and lawyer), spices, meat, tomato sauce and spaghetti and cook 'em up. My friends in the picture are what I call the 2%.

Here is my thesis. Concerning volunteer work in charitable groups, all of the work is done by 2% of the membership for everyone else. The 2% rule applies to all volunteer organizations. If you belong to enough organizations you will find THE SAME PEOPLE who serve as the 2% of that organization's membership who do all the work. These people are that 2%, look for them the next time you need something done.

Bill Hyman and crew outpace another catamaran

On Sunday there are catamaran races from the Pago Pago Yacht Club around a series of buoys, including one of the buoys which marks the entrance to the harbor. This is what that race looks like with Bill Hyman in the catamaran with colored sails.