Summer Greetings,

As we approach mid-summer, we also welcome three new groups of graduates from our School of Good Taste Cooking Camp. In its sixth year, the Camp has taken on a life of its own as a tradition in our community. We have watched parents excited faces at 8th birthday parties when they exclaim, “now little Johnny or Susie can go to Cooking Camp!” Truly, it has become part of the growing-up experience in our area. With the growth, the whole experience has become more organized, more defined and more sophisticated. We have earned such a good reputation as a Camp that we are able to recruit superior counselors to work with these young people. I am especially proud of the group this year.

Elizabeth Marks is our Camp Director. Elizabeth is 19 and is a rising sophomore at the University of Alabama. She became part of the VeryVera family at the age of 14 as she met the requirements to be an elf in our packaging department during the holidays. Those holiday packaging days spanned through her high school experience and this year as a freshman in college. When she decided to come home for the summer from school, we both thought this would be a great fit for her knowledge of our company and her responsibility to accept a challenge. She has done a fantastic job.

Chelsea Bates was recruited to become part of our weekend event team while she was attending high school. As a server with our staff, she has learned a great deal about the Special Event business and about how VeryVera puts it all together. These skills have served her well this summer. She is a rising sophomore at the University of Georgia and has shown a great deal of leadership in this experience.

Kaitlin King has never had any VeryVera experience but believe me, you would not know it to this point! She was in the audience at the University of Georgia’s Phi Mu House when I was the guest speaker for chapter meeting. I mentioned that night that I was looking to hire a few young women to assist with cooking camp; she jumped right on the band wagon. Also a rising sophomore at UGA, her vision to one day work with young people is being realized in this valuable experience.

And finally Greyson Walker has not been a staff member but instead a customer! Greyson, at fourteen was a student in our very first Cooking Camp series in 2004. She saw and experienced the whole idea of Cooking Camp and has shed a completely different perspective back to all of us on how to continue to improve our program. Entering her sophomore year at The University of Alabama, Greyson has shown tremendous efforts in making sure the job is done right and well.

One of the strongest factors to me in all of this is the fact that this group of young women has made such a terrific team. Watching them each grow in their own individual accomplishments as well as developing as a group to make the whole experience seamless, I continue to be impressed with them on a daily basis. I have watched my initial instructions grow to just observation of the work being done. I have seen attention paid to details of budget, quality, consistency and organization and as a noted perfectionist; I generally tell them daily how proud I continue to be. This month we have another group of Beginner’s who are 8-10 years of age, an Intermediate II group that defines itself as 11-14 year olds that have never attended Camp and finally, our Advanced Class that requires two years of experience in our Camp Program. The Beginner’s are working from a Colorful Theme and this is emphasized in the variety of foods and materials we are using that week. Intermediate II will be Cooking up a Storm and will have a souvenir cookbook and umbrella to prove it while the Advanced Class will be making steps towards preparing their own Sweet Sixteen Tea when the time comes and participate in producing their own special event for that memorable day. Shall I say we save the best for last?

Look at photos on-line this month and into August when we share our final weeks of camp with you. Stay tuned with us on-line throughout the year because the School of Good Taste Cooking Camp may be a franchise reality by Summer 2010. We are working hard to bring Camp to you by next summer. Continue to stay cool this summer and take my advice: “get in the kitchen with a hungry, young mind and enjoy yourself.”

Vera

(7.2009)