For Cheryl Baylie, service didn’t stop when life got hard. In fact, that’s when it started.
She first learned about Operation BBQ Relief while traveling the BBQ circuit with her son as KCBS (Kansas City Barbeque Society) Certified Judges. That’s when they started noticing OBR bumper stickers.
“Once we heard, we knew we had to be a part of it,” Cheryl writes.
“For my son and me, cooking together was ‘our thing.’ We both wanted to learn more about how to barbecue and we couldn’t think how better to learn than to be helping the fabulous pitmasters we had been meeting and being of service during a disaster at the same time.”
Their first deployment was to San Marcos, Texas, after a devastating flash flood.
“We learned more about BBQ from a Texas BBQ legend than most people learn in a lifetime and contributed to feeding thousands over the course of a weekend.”
But it was her second deployment that stuck with her the most. Between Christmas and New Year’s, a tornado hit Rowlett, Texas, just as Cheryl was navigating her first holiday alone after losing her husband of over 30 years.
“I had shut down my engineering company and retired, and both my children had grown and flown the coop. I was almost completely alone. So I showed up early and left late. There was no time to feel sorry for myself, especially in the middle of a community whose troubles made mine seem very small.”
She found her place on the operations side, helping track meals and manage inventory. By her third deployment during Hurricane Harvey, Cheryl had fully stepped into the OBR family.
One night in Rowlett, long after most had gone home, a father and his two daughters arrived at the church that served as their base. Their home was gone. It was one of the girls’ birthdays. Their mother had been killed in the storm.
“The few cooks that were left dropped everything… made a hot BBQ feast… turned cupcakes into a birthday cake… pulled together clothes and toys. It is what we do. We make something good, and support the families, on the worst possible days of their lives.”
Cheryl has since lost mobility, but not her drive to serve. Today she leads the Virtual Volunteer team, supporting deployments behind the scenes from wherever she is. “Operation BBQ Relief has offered me a way to continue to serve from ‘Behind the Heart,’” she says.
