For 17 days each September, 1.2 million people stroll the grounds of the Puyallup Fair. Thousands of them also experience the mouth-watering offerings of two Young Life-run food venues: one serves barbecue beef sandwiches and smoked turkey legs and the other serves teriyaki chicken.

These fairgoers are treated not only to great food, but also to fantastic customer service. It's a win-win for all — satisfying hungry fair attendees and raising more than $100,000 per year to support the Young Life ministry in Gig Harbor, Puyallup and Greater Tacoma.

The Washington State Fair is one of the sixth largest fairs in North America, and being a food vendor there is serious business. Young Life had to work to earn its spot. "The fair was concerned about non-profits running food venues, so they had only commercial food vendors," recalled Todd Silver, the chairman of the steering committee that oversees this phenomenal fund-raising endeavor. Before Young Life's first fair appearance in 1982, they had to go through a stringent approval process to be able to have a presence at the fair. "By God's grace, we convinced them we could do it," Silver said.

A fair favorite
In the first year for the Young Life venue, nearly 10,000 pounds of barbecue beef was sold on sandwiches (along with coleslaw and baked beans, of course), helping them come very close to their $100,000 goal for that first year.

So the fair allowed them to return the next year. And then the next. The barbecue sauce — which originally came from a recipe from legendary Young Life camp cook Andy "Goldbrick" Delaney — got customers coming back year after year.

Ten years after beginning the barbecue venue, they opened a new venue which serves teriyaki chicken. In recent years they've added the smoked turkey legs to the menu at the barbecue venue.

Now, more than 25 years since its first fair appearance, $200,000 has been invested in equipment making it possible to sell 15,000 pounds of barbecue beef, 10,000 pounds of teriyaki chicken and 15,000 pounds of turkey legs in 17 days, not to mention thousands of gallons of soda, milk and bottled water. And if you stacked all the large cans of baked beans dished out in those 17 days, the pile would be 50 feet higher than the Seattle Space Needle!

"The Young Life booth is a well-known one," Silver said. "During the fair's run, it's one of the biggest restaurants in gross sales on the West Coast. We've got people who are amazingly faithful customers. They get served by smiling Young Life volunteers."

Customer service — Young Life style
And the customer service is second to none. Volunteers range from committee members to Young Life leaders to Young Life kids, who often find volunteering at the fair a way to serve after having an amazing experience at Young Life camp. Each area is assigned a number of shifts and takes care of staffing the shifts. Silver added that the Young Life staff are crucial to this operation. "They have been the heart and soul of this."

He also credits other teammates who know their roles well and execute them with excellence. Silver, along with the same three other members of the 1982 steering committee are still very active. Bob Lewis manages the finances. John Kautz, a local contractor, has managed the booths almost every day the booths have been open since 1982. (That's 425 days volunteered!) "He's been a lot of the glue to hold this together," Silver said.

Sally Crowe organizes the volunteer facilitators. During the 17-day fair, Young Life volunteers man 1,725 shifts ranging from four to eight hours. She makes sure that the volunteers are trained well enough that the three shift changes each day happen without any hiccups. With as many as 47 people serving on their busiest shift and six cash registers blazing at full speed, some of the professional food vendors at the fair just shake their heads in amazement.

Every teammate is essential to this operation. There's also people like Brad and Barbara Henning, who launder the volunteers' T-shirts daily, and Terry Asbjorsen, who makes sure the aprons are clean and ready for each day. It's these touches of excellence, along with the finger-licking good food, that keep fairgoers returning every year.

In 2006, the mix of great food and fantastic service grossed close to a total of $300,000 and netted a total of more than $100,000 for the three Young Life areas who participate in this venture. The proceeds are divided among each of the areas and contribute to their annual budgets.

Thanks to dedicated volunteers and great-tasting food, the Young Life venues at this fair have a recipe for fund-raising success that ultimately add up to more kids being reached for Jesus Christ.