GMC Prep hosts annual BBQ dinner

The Georgia Military College Bulldog Club hosted its annual BBQ dinner Wednesday. Volunteers got an early start, just before 3 a.m. to fire up the pit, cooking more than 6,000 chickens. GMC Prep School students assisted parents, faculty and staff, and volunteers in the cooking, packaging of the plates, and deliveries.

Pam Grant, principal of Georgia Military College Prep School, said the students did a great job this year.

“This is one of our most exciting days of the year that we look forward to,” Grant said. “Everybody on campus comes out to help us and support us. They work in the food lines, they help get the plates ready, and they help deliver them to the cars. The most exciting thing about this year is that almost all of our students sold their 10 tickets, and all of the money that we raise for this fundraiser, the Bulldog Club gives it back to help the students and the teachers buy things that support our kids and to help give them an even better GMC Prep School experience.”

Jeff Gray, vice president of engineering, said this event isn’t just put together in a matter of days. He said the Bulldog Club prepares months in advance.

“The executive committee starts, probably in July, working toward the barbecue. We decide how much chicken to order, how to encourage the students to sell the tickets. We also organize several different crews,” Gray said. “There is a big team on Tuesday, to slice all the cakes, package up all the bread, working with the students on that, and then even a bigger team, two teams, one for the pit on Wednesday — we started a little before 3 in the morning — and then one in the mini gym to put it all together.”

Some students like Derek Hayles, Command Sgt. Major of the 2nd Battalion, said he didn’t know what he was getting into, but said braving the cold weather was worth it overall.

“This is my first year helping with the barbecue. My sister graduated years ago, but my dad always told me about it but it’s a long process,” Hayles said. “It’s very cold. It’s not what I was expecting; I was expecting a lot of heat and you know, not having my fingertips frozen, but other than that, knowing that I’m making and preparing food for other people that are going to get it later in the day, that’s a really big plus for this. It makes me want to actually stay out here for 12 hours.”

It’s the students’ dedication that Bulldog Club member, Larry Allen, said makes all the difference. He said a lot of things have changed since he started working the annual event, and said he looks forward to the barbecue every year.

“I remember the day that I started, we were on the old blacktop. We had makeshift pits and now we have the state-of-the-art pits,” Allen said. “Once you’ve had a GMC barbecue plate, you look forward to the next year for the same plate again.”

This year was a record year for the annual barbecue dinner. Approximately 5,800 plates were sold last year, and 6,219 were sold this year.

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