Evolution of an Operation BBQ

I get asked how SkippyP’s started the Operation BBQ For Our Troops at Ellington, and when I tell the tale people are surprised… so I thought I’d recount it here.

Late July 2005, after the birth of our daughter Rachel (who is now number 3 of 5), we found ourselves in the waiting room of a pediatric urologist in the Houston medical center. Just days before her birth we had shipped some product to another Op BBQ and with time on my hands I was lamenting that there wasn’t something more I could do. Too bad Ellington was a reserve base. What else do you do while trying to be occupied in a doctor’s office?

I picked up a newspaper- which I never do, preferring to read online- and there, bigger than life, was an article about the reservists deploying. Really? Ellington? Why wasn’t this a big deal locally?

Next day I spent over an hour calling the base, mostly getting transferred around and disconnected. As a last ditch effort I called Major Jose Kalil who I knew from work at NASA JSC. He knew the number of the command office’s secretary. Late that day I figured I’d leave a message and call back the next day. But when I called he answered- he being the base commander, Colonel McNeally. From there it’s mostly history. I explained what I wanted to do, he agreed, and we worked with their homecoming committee to make it happen. That year nearly 2,000 soldiers from the 147th Fighter Wing and their families had a terrific BBQ meal at no cost to them.

That year was perhaps the most ‘grass roots’ of any we’ve done at Ellington. With sponsors from David Klose (BBQ Pits by Klose) to Texas A&M Galveston Aggie Corps, out of state anonymous donors, other local businesses, and yours truly (SkippyP’s) we had a blast cooking and serving our buns off! Special thanks to Greg Poeppl (GregNJersey) and Scott ?? (Texylvania Smokehouse) who came in from back east to help. It was truly a labor of love.

Since then SkippyP’s has organized and executed several more events at Ellington- Op BBQ events in 2007 and 2009, plus various support efforts when hurricanes hit. To date we’ve served more than 10,000 plates at Ellington and supported nearly a dozen other Operation BBQs across this great nation. We do what we can given our economic situation.

And to think it started with a cold call to the base.