Transcript

Location: 1217 Caledonia Street

Adrian Lipscombe: 

Thanksgiving was coming up, and I had two chef friends that were invited by the Sioux community to go to Standing Rock to cook for Thanksgiving, and I just asked them, “Will y’all be coming through La Crosse?” I said, “I would love to be able to give y’all a place to sleep at night,” and they took me up on the offer. And I said, “Is there anything else I can do?” And they were like, “no.” And I said, “Well, what are you making?” And they said, “Soup,” and I said, “For how many?” And they said, “for probably close to 1000,” and I said, “I’m gonna make you bread rolls.” They were like, “No, no, no.” And I said, “No, I’m going to do this. I have this commercial kitchen. I know it’s something I can make.” I happen to just tell people that I was going to do this, and it showed up in the paper. And I told them the day I was going to do it, how long I was going to do it, I was gonna start at 8:00 in the morning. We’re gonna do it till five. However, many bread rolls I can make. At 8:00 in the morning, I’m there, and I don’t know anybody in town. We’re still pretty new. Thirty people showed up, and they started rolling bread, and every hour, more people showed up. It was amazing to see this community come together in such a way. And the diversity of the community. Our youngest person was like four at the time. Our eldest person was ninety-one. And then the demographics of some big players and big companies that were stopping by just to drop off a check because they wanted to participate but couldn’t stay, to some people that had large businesses that had on business suits that just took their stuff off, put a hair cap on, and started working by like 11:00 we made over two thousand bread rolls. My name is Adrienne Lipscomb. I’m a chef, and I’m standing at 1217 Caledonia St. in La Crosse, Wisconsin.