One Scoop Equals 10 Cups, 50 Cups to a Pot

Connie Thornton, Hospitality Specialist

Those attending this month’s Prepare for the Fair lectures are finding large containers of hot coffee on the buffet table thanks to Hospitality volunteer Connie Thornton.

Connie comes into the kitchen the day before a meeting to start the coffee. Three years ago, when she began with Hospitality, Connie says, she needed instruction for making coffee in the large urns. “One scoop equals 10 cups, 50 cups to a pot,” she says.

Connie does the preparation, including the shopping, for all the Guild meetings and special programs. In addition to coffee, she says, “we need plates and cups and flatware” to set up a buffet table. Each occasion “is a two-day project.”

Various Guild committees are assigned responsibility for providing food. Connie sends emails to remind the members before a meeting and, she says, they always come. “They put the food on the table and arrange it. I have nothing to do with it,” she says.

Connie takes over again after a meeting to clean up. “I’ve learned a lot being in charge of Hospitality,” she says. “How to organize, what to buy and setting up the tables.”

Connie has been a member of the Heard Museum since the mid 1970s. She retired as a social worker in 2011 and started volunteering right away. In addition to Hospitality, she contributes time to many other Guild activities. “I’m almost a full-time volunteer,” she admits.