The Chicken Dance

Chicken was never served at the dinner table when I was growing up.  Never!  My father hated chicken and refused to eat it, probably because he had to wring the necks of so many chickens in his own childhood growing up on the farm.  I'm not sure if my mom knew about this particular quirk of my dad's before she married him, but she certainly honored by his preferences afterwards.

I assimilated my dad's adversion to chicken by osmosis and even after I left home, I refused to eat it.  Then, I married a man who loves chicken.  Ah, the ironies of life!

This spring I've prepared a lot of chicken, not just for my husband Tim to eat, but also for the approximately 1650 client families who weekly visit the Arlington Food Assistance Center, the local food bank. I'm one of AFAC's volunteers who bag chicken on Wednesday afternoons. 

AFAC's band of Wednesday afternoon chicken baggers

No, not live chickens!  Arlington is a densely populated urban setting where free-ranging chickens, if there were any, would soon be flatten by city traffic. 

Crates of donated chicken from Holly Poultry, Inc.

No, we divide crates of chicken donated to AFAC by companies such as Holly Poultry, Perdue or Tysons into smaller bags.  Ours is a Chicken Dance that rivals any ever performed in America, including the following YouTube one.

My band of volunteers has developed a rhythm to our work.  Donning plastic gloves and aprons, we each have a part to play in this dance of chicken bagging. 

Chas leads off our Chicken Dance.

Chas grabs two pieces of raw chicken out of the crate and drops them in the waiting bags that Mike and Pete hold open. 

Mike, Chas and Pete

Mike and Pete pass the bags on to Pat and me.  We are the twirlers of our band. 

Pat expertly twirls her bag of chicken closed before knotting its top.

We press the air out of the chicken-filled bags; then, twirl them closed, tying off the twisted top into a knot before returning the bags to an empty crate. 

Chas carrys the final crate into the walk-in refrigerator.

The crates of bagged chicken pieces are then trundled into the walk-in refrigerated locker for the next client distribution day. 

A job well-done, Chas!

I never wanted a career in the meat-packing industry, but I'm finding this Chicken Dance rewarding as I help to feed the hungry in my city.