Volunteer Cooking Information

Thank you for your interest in volunteering for the Blue Stars Drum and Bugle Corps' Cook Staff! This season is shaping up to be one of the most exciting in our history and we could use your help!

Why Volunteer for the Blue Stars?
The experience that we as a team (management, instructional staff, volunteers and alumni) offer the marching members of the Blue Stars is incredibly unique. Travel, performance, lifelong friendships, independence and leadership training are all parts of the experience that have helped build the Blue Stars as a world-leader in the Drum and Bugle Corps activity. None of this would be possible without a hard working and dedicated volunteer staff.

Volunteering for the cook staff brings with it a wide variety of challenges. Long days and nights of work preparing and serving 160 meals four times a day accompany the many rewards that come from providing our members and staff a well-balanced diet.

A typical day on the road with the Cook Staff:
On a typical day the Blue Stars cook staff will wake up one hour before breakfast is scheduled to be served. Don't worry; we will make sure that either the head cook or another management staff member wakes you up on time! Once you find your way out to the food truck, the head cook will communicate the schedule and menu for the day and make sure that all tasks have been properly assigned. The schedule, posted on a white board, will provide everyone with times for meals, rehearsals, departures, scheduled arrival times, housing facilities, any special events for the day and the number of miles (if any) that the corps will be traveling to the next housing location.

The Blue Stars are blessed with one of the finest cook trucks in the drum corps activity. Its amenities include: refrigeration and freezer units, multiple stoves and grill, stainless steel counter tops with plenty of prep area, dry storage space, three wash sinks, a washer and dryer, and a shower. Prior to your involvement with the cook staff the head cook or member of the corps management will offer you an orientation session to show you how things work, where things are stored, how to get things out of certain areas, how to set up the truck for meal preparation and how to secure things prior to departure. Please feel free to ask any questions at any time.

There are two main assignments that the head cook will delegate prior to each meal:

Meal Prep (On the truck) -- These individuals slice, mix, grill food depending on the meal prior to the set up time in order to ensure an on time delivery of food to the servers.

Serving (Outside the truck) -- Prepare tray washing buckets and table set up: Fill drink containers with water and Kool-Aid/Power-Aid powder, get milk/juice off truck, place trays, plates, napkins, cups, etc. for members' arrival at meal time.

Certain meals will require all cook crew members to be involved with meal prep until the time that the serving preparations begin. After 30 minutes, members and staff will be offered seconds on the remaining food.

Once meal time is over:
Our meal times are usually 45 minutes or 1 hour in length. Following each meal, the remaining food is set up on the cook truck window and put back in the proper area of the truck.

Once all the food is placed back on truck the clean-up process begins;
-Remaining plates/napkins/utensils/condiments etc. are placed back in truck.
-Tables are wiped down.
-Dishes are washed.
-Member and staff trays are picked up once they are dry and placed back in storage crates.
(Members and staff wash their own trays and stack them next to the wash bins)

Once the clean-up tasks are completed:
When everything is cleaned to the discretion of the head cook and/or corps management; you are free! Many volunteers use this time to eat, shower, catch a quick nap or pack up their personal belongings onto the staff/volunteer vehicle. You are also encouraged to find a quite place to read, take a walk, lie down under a shady tree and/or watch some rehearsal. Be sure to check with the head cook to find out when the next meal prep is scheduled to begin or refer back to your morning staff meeting.

Corps Performances:
The Blue Stars will perform over 50 times this season. As a touring volunteer you will be given a Blue Stars' staff pass, which will permit you to attend all Drum Corps International and Drum Corps Midwest shows free of charge. At times, we will need to do some prep work at the food truck to prepare a meal for the corps following their performance. Often, these chores are completed in time for the crew to get to the stadium and enjoy the show!

Following the final meal before departure:
The final meal before departure will either take place at a housing site and/or show site. Members and staff will have an allotted amount of time for eating and taking care of their own responsibilities prior to our scheduled departure time. This is a great time of the night as members have the opportunity to socialize with members from other corps and unwind from a long day with the instructional staff, volunteers and each other.

Following our final meal before leaving a housing site there will be an assigned section of members to help the truck loading procedure. These members will finish taking care of packing their own luggage, take a shower and eat before assisting the cook staff. They will arrive at the cook truck approximately 25 minutes prior to the corps' scheduled departure. Feel free to ask any of these members for their help. That's what they are there to do!

Prior to the Cook Truck's Departure:
-Tables are folded up and placed in food truck bays.
-Garbage cans are emptied in the dumpster and stored on food truck.
-Crates and coolers are placed in food truck aisle.
-All miscellaneous items are secured to truck by bungee chords.
-Latches on cupboards are secured.
-Waste and water hoses are stored back in food truck bays and back storage door.
-Stairs are placed in food truck bay.
-Doors are locked and double checked by semi driver prior to departure.

Once everything is packed up and put away on the truck and the doors are locked, you will have time to find your seat on our staff/volunteer vehicle. Be sure to double check when the scheduled time of departure is so that we can leave as a group and on time.

Arrival at our new housing sites:
We will typically arrive at our housing sites sometime after midnight. This time could extend on into the morning hours depending on how far the corps is scheduled to travel on that particular day or night.

Once the Blue Stars' convoy pulls into the parking lot, a member of the corps management will connect with a contact person from the housing site. They will find the best location to park the cook truck and hook up the water and electrical outlets. This member of the management who takes care of this will report to the head cook. You will also be told by a member of the corps' management where your sleeping is located. You are then free to go inside, stretch out and sleep.

How do I sign up?
We have an online volunteer application that you can fill out to let us know that you are interested. Here's the link: http://www.bluestars.org/support/volunteer_form.php Filling out this form does not officially commit you. Upon reading these applications the corps director will contact you regarding your availability. If you have any questions please feel free to email director@bluestars.org

Thank you again for your interest. We look forward to meeting you!