Greg Thornburg wears a lot of hats around The Filling Station. He serves on our board of directors, chairs the facilities committee, leads the Perfect Ten committee, and this year he is stepping up as event chair for the Perfect Ten fundraiser. He also represents Solid Rock Global Methodist Church on the board. Solid Rock is the first Global Methodist church plant in North Carolina, located on Trent Road in the former Village Butcher building across from Carolina Bagel. Greg has been part of that congregation for 40 years and currently serves as president of the Global Methodist Men's Club.
Before the conversation turns to fundraising, Greg shares a little about home. He and his wife Heather are celebrating 30 years of marriage, and their two children are both stepping into new chapters. Their daughter Molly recently graduated from Appalachian State University and is preparing to start a master's program, and their son Jackson is moving out on his own for the first time. Soon to be empty nesters, as Greg puts it. That same instinct to show up for family is how Solid Rock shows up for Jones County. The church sends three volunteer teams to pickup days, supports the Salvation Army Angel Tree, and has deliberately refocused outreach that once centered on New Bern toward neighbors closer to home.
The heart of this episode is the Perfect Ten, one of our largest annual fundraisers and now approaching its 10th year. For most of its history, the event stretched along 10 Mile Fork Road with activity stops spread across a five mile radius. Last year it moved onto The Filling Station campus, and Greg explains why that change mattered. People could finally walk through the building, meet each other, and see exactly where their donations go. Greg also tells the story of last year's raffle dinner, when the winner invited a table full of our top volunteers for prime rib and shrimp and grits, with seared ahi tuna and baked pimento cheese to start. All five stations in the training kitchen were running to pull it off, and the volunteers called it, fittingly, a perfect ten.
This year's Perfect Ten is set for November 7 from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. on The Filling Station campus. Look for barbecue and barbecue chicken from the food stations, with Greg himself among the chefs, plus photo opportunities on tractors, face painting, cloggers and dancers, a bake sale, picnic seating, and sampling stations in the kitchen. Plates are donation only on the day of the event, so there is nothing to buy ahead of time. The raffle is back as well. One winner chooses nine guests for a chef inspired dinner in the training kitchen, and this year's menu features ribeye steaks and shrimp kebabs. Tickets are $10 each or five for $40 at fillingstation1075.com. With a $70,000 goal and CarolinaEast returning as title sponsor, the committee is aiming high. In Greg's words, it is a day out that you won't regret.