LABSCO sales rep Wade Pruitt has a passion for serving up delicious meals at a summer camp for teenagers from underprivileged homes.
By Laura Thill
Thanksgiving has arrived and, inevitably, it’s your turn to host. Before meal planning for an extended family of 15 leaves you reeling, however, consider Wade Pruitt. Each summer, the LABSCO sales rep – together with a couple of buddies – spends a week at a rural Oklahoma summer camp in the company of several thousand teenagers, many who come from underprivileged homes. But, there’s no rock climbing or water sports for this trio. Dubbed Three Old Men, Pruitt and his friends spend countless hours planning and preparing three square meals a day for as many as 150 campers, staff and volunteers at a time. And, this team of chefs takes camp grub to a whole new level.
Brisket on the grill
Your recollection of childhood summer camp may evoke memories of rubbery pancakes and canned fruit cocktail, but that’s certainly not the case for Pruitt’s campers. “The kids have a long bus ride to the camp, so the first night, we like to prepare a nice meal,” he says. Traditionally (he’s been doing this since 2001), that means brisket on the grill, homemade bread, potatoes and dessert prepared from scratch.
“We like to show the campers we care,” he says, particularly since many of them have faced a number of obstacles in their young lives. The camp is a Southern Baptist church ministry serving roughly six to seven thousand youth campers each week for about eight weeks, he says. “As you can imagine, with such a diverse group of teens, we see many challenges each year,” he says, referring to pregnant teenage girls, boys who have developed anger issues after growing up with an abusive parent or caretaker and kids with at least one parent imprisoned for drug dealings. “We have seen kids come to camp with everything they own in a pillowcase, and have scrounged together [blankets and supplies] and helped out with laundry.
“Often, we deal with young people who don’t get enough to eat at home,” Pruitt continues. “Their one regular meal may be a school lunch.” But, for at least one week, Pruitt and his counterparts ensure that at least 150 of these teens experience good, filling, nutritionally sound meals.
In addition, he and the rest of the staff, which includes his wife Susan, works hard to identify campers in need of extra attention and find ways to mentor and encourage them. “Each day, we have an opportunity to spend quality time with the campers, individually and in small groups, during worship and free time,” he says. His goal is “to provide them with spiritual guidance and show them there are people who care about them and want nothing in return,” he explains. “We try to spend several hours with the kids, attending church services with them and joining them for ping pong or volleyball, and then again at night when they return to their cabin.”
In spite of scholarships available to offset the $80-$100 cost to campers in need, it’s often no easy feat to get them registered, Pruitt says. Getting the necessary medical forms signed by a parent or guardian is a major obstacle, he says, particularly given that many of the kids have minimal direction from their parents. But, for campers who successfully navigate the registration process, the experience is worth it, he adds. In addition to what some might consider a four-star menu, campers get to experience swimming, baseball, volleyball, softball, rock climbing, rope courses, zip lines, water sports and water slides. And, tall climbing towers on the grounds often are used for team events and trust-building activities, he says.
It takes a village
If getting the campers registered and off to camp is challenging, for the cooks, preparing can be equally so, according to Pruitt. “Our three-man team generally begins a month ahead of camp, preparing the menu, checking for campers with dietary restrictions and ordering [food and supplies],” he explains. They try to prepare most meals from scratch, as it’s less expensive and healthier for the campers, he adds, noting “the three of us – a firefighter, a safety officer and myself – work well together.”
Although the camp provides a budget for the cooks, they each tend to chip in their own money, and also rely on the kindness of others too. “One family donates a quarter of beef that week,” Pruitt says. A couple of days ahead of their first scheduled meal, the cooking team hitches a trailer to “a large vehicle” and stops at Sam’s to pick up its order. As an example, last summer’s purchase included:
- 75 pounds of chicken breasts
- 50 pounds of oranges
- 75 pounds of apples
- 25 pounds of grapes
- 24 cases of water, as well as drink mixes like Gatorade, to keep campers hydrated
- Additional cake and cookie mixes in case they run out of baking ingredients
- Snacks – and plenty of them
Indeed, it’s not uncommon for campers to wake up to homemade cinnamon rolls and biscuits, and wind down an active day with full-course chicken dinners. Fresh fruit is in abundance throughout the day because “the kids don’t usually get this at home.” As a special treat, the cooks cater to camp themes. “Last year, the kids asked for a bacon theme,” says Pruitt. And so, for a day, breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks and even desserts were prepared with bacon as the main ingredient. “We cooked 65 pounds of bacon that week,” he laughs. “It may not have been the healthiest menu, but it was one fun day for the kids!”
Most days, Pruitt’s team cleans up from one meal, only to start the next. But, if it’s exhausting work, it’s equally rewarding. Pruitt says he and his family, “find this is a great way to serve others physically and spiritually. My wife Susan volunteers as a sponsor for the girls. She’s a small group leader and works with them on scripture. They get to know one another well and build long-term relationships.”
His two children, Zack and Taylor, are experienced campers. Although Zack is now too old to be a camper (the camp generally caters to kids between 13 and 18 years), following high school graduation, he volunteered as a student counselor one summer.
“This is something my wife and I will continue to do after our daughter graduates high school,” says Pruitt. Having stayed in touch with some of the kids long past their camper days, he notes that it’s interesting to see them find their way in life. “Some of the kids have gone on to school, some now work and some have families of their own,” he says. “I’m always surprised when one of them calls me about [a big decision, such as] changing direction in school, and asks, ‘So, what do you think about this?’”
Not surprisingly, the rewards reaped working with his summer campers are not all that different from the positive feeling he gets from serving his customers. “I have always looked at sales as an opportunity to help customers,” he says. “Working with these young [campers] has helped me become a better listener. I think that’s something [we] sales reps could use to better help our customers.”