United Methodist women, and some of their friends, mixed up the custard base for the five flavors – vanilla, strawberry, chocolate, peach and peppermint – that were added later. The men supervised the several runs of the two 10-gallon World War II-surplus freezers and sampled the finished products. “We have to be sure it all tastes right,” Mike Vogel said. “I couldn’t believe how many delicious cakes and pies and other homemade desserts our people brought to go with the ice cream,” Cochran said. “If we could channel all this baking talent into a bakery of our own, I think we’d drive other bakeries into bankruptcy.” Every year is a challenge, said volunteer Shirley Sayles. “We learn something new each time, but we’ll be hard- pressed to top this year’s event next summer,” she said. “We all worked so well together, … like a family, … and that made everything a lot less complicated. It was hard work but fun.” Cochran noted that the whole thing gave those who participated a glowing sense of accomplishment. “All the money we took in will go to support afflicted women and children worldwide. There are so many places where women are still chattel and baby girls are worthless. We hope our help can make inroads into appropriate changes for some of them,” she said. When it was over, it wasn’t really over. It was like a circus – at the end came the tear-down and cleanup. “We had more volunteers who stayed to do all that,” said Cochran. “We are blessed with a lot of good people who make their work contributions where it is most needed at any given time.” She said she couldn’t stress enough her gratitude to all the community businesses who lent their support to the project, especially Knudsen Creamery distributor Sal D’Errico. “Sal’s a Baptist, but he helps us immeasurably every year. You know what he said when we asked him again? He said, `Last time I looked, we all serve the same God. I’ll help you any way I can,”‘ Keith Swords said. “We got such a good response from everyone it was truly heartwarming,” Cathy Lee said. “Believe me, we’ll remember who they are when we do our private shopping and we’ll tell everyone else about their generosity.” Menus for the week at the senior life nutrition sites in Lancaster and Palmdale have been announced. All meals include bread, margarine and coffee, tea or milk for a suggested donation of $2. Monday: Fish sandwich or cheeseburger, macaroni salad, pudding. Tuesday: Beef stew with potatoes and vegetables, spinach, garden salad, orange. Wednesday: Roast turkey, bread stuffing, Normandy vegetables, cottage cheese, gelatin with fruit. Thursday: Stuffed bell peppers, mashed potatoes, broccoli, tossed salad, pudding. Friday: Barbecued chicken, brown rice, cooked cabbage, carrot/raisin salad, pears. Bettie Rencoret can be contacted at (661) 943-2998.160Want local news?Sign up for the Localist and stay informed Something went wrong. Please try again.subscribeCongratulations! You’re all set! “In a year full of many broken records, this year’s event came out ahead of those in the past, at least those that I can remember,” the Rev. Jim Ledgerwood said. “They’ve all been great, but this was a real door-buster.” “Record-breaking weather temperatures might have contributed something to it but I think the hard work of more than 150 volunteers this year made a lot of difference, too,” said Jeanne Cochran, chairwoman of the social. “We served up 1,104 scoops of ice cream, 418 pie slices, 323 pieces of cake, 377 brownies and cookies, and 85 drinks,” added volunteer Debi King. For a whole week prior to the social, volunteers worked long hours on preparations – from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. on two of the days immediately preceding the event. They set up tables and chairs in the church’s newly landscaped and refinished quad. LANCASTER – With net proceeds topping out at more than $3,000 and attendance estimated at 900, Lancaster United Methodist Church’s Diamond Jubilee ice cream social has been declared a “real cool” success. By 6 p.m. July 19th, a line had formed outside the entrance to John Wesley Hall at the church and just kept growing all the way around the building. Inside the hall, two tables spanning the length of the room were laden with desserts to complement all the ice cream flavors. “We sold out of the peach and chocolate first and, by the end of the two hours, there was nothing left over to sell on Sunday,” said Barbara Parkhurst, who helps make the ice cream’s custard base each year for the event.