SNOHOMISH — Ronda Newitt-Larson and Margaret Boys-Wolf made a perfect team.
At the benefit dinner for Sherwood Community Services on Sunday, Newitt-Larson was going to be in charge of organizing, and Boys-Wolf, an Issaquah chef, in charge of cooking.
Sherwood is based in Lake Stevens and provides services to kids and adults with disabilities in Snohomish County. A dedicated volunteer at the organization, Newitt-Larson rounded up about a dozen friends and relatives to help with the benefit.
The $100-a-plate dinner for 100 people at Swans Trail Farms in Snohomish had been planned for months, and everything was going smoothly. Until one week before the big date, when Boys-Wolf’s son Nathan was in a serious accident. He suffered life-threatening injuries after he was thrown from an off-road vehicle. Doctors still can’t say what the lasting effects of his injuries will be, Newitt-Larson said.
She has known Boys-Wolf for more than 20 years. Not being able to help Boys-Wolf has been hard to bear, Newitt-Larson said.
Still, there was a dinner to be prepared.
“We were ready to change the menu up to the last minute,” Newitt-Larson said. “What I didn’t expect was that we’d have to change the chef.”
David Swoboda stepped right in.
A former professional cook, Swoboda, of Snohomish, remodels homes now.
“I make kitchens now instead of cooking in them,” he said Sunday while preparing pork tenderloin.
He leaned over a large baking sheet, carefully arranging leaves of fresh spinach, fragrant rosemary and baby onions on each piece of meat before forming it into a neat roll.
Cooking again felt good, but doing it for more than 100 people was definitely different, he said.
Less than two hours remained until the dinner would be served, and the volunteers were putting finishing touches on many dishes and setting the tables. Just-finished spring rolls glistened in their dish, waiting to be brought out to the guests. Rows of tarts topped with fresh berries were laid out by the window.
Outside, the long banquet table already had been set. Many of the servers and helpers were volunteers from Sherwood.
“It looked beautiful and easy, but it took lots of hours to put that together,” Newitt-Larson said on Monday.
The farm’s owners, the Krause family, donated the space for the benefit and helped with the dinner. Local businesses and volunteers donated most of the food and services. Local musicians, including the Moonlight Swing Orchestra, provided the music. All told, about 35 people made the dinner happen, Newitt-Larson said.
This was the second year the benefit was held, said Michelle Fogus, the director at Sherwood.
The table was set up community-style, with diners taking food from raised wooden planks placed in the middle of the table. Organizers wanted to create a sense of community, said Fogus, who attended as a diner this year.
“It really worked. People were passing dishes and serving food to each other. It really encourages you to meet and talk with the people who are sitting with you,” she said.
Behind the kitchen’s closed doors, Boys-Wolf was missed.
“Everyone was talking about Margaret,” Newitt-Larson said.
Katya Yefimova: 425-339-3452; kyefimova@heraldnet.com.
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