WATSONVILLE — On Monday morning, SwingTime Catering owner Antonette Wood was cooking up a storm at the company’s Watsonville kitchen.
Trays upon trays of meat, stuffing, vegetables, desserts and more were being prepared for a long journey to Paradise, where the food will be donated to families affected by November’s Camp Fire. Wood and her partner Peggy Triplitt plan to wake up at 4 a.m. on Christmas morning to personally transport the meals.
“Outreach like this is one of the reasons we opened SwingTime,” Wood said. “We wouldn’t be able to do this if we worked for someone else. It’s really important to us.”
Wood and Triplitt reached out to the organization Angels Among Us to help organize the donation. They expect close to 1,000 people will show up for the Christmas Day meals in Paradise — and more will be served with takeout meals.
“Some of these people are still living without water, without so many everyday necessities,” Wood said.
Wood, along with SwingTime employee Azucena Huerta, continued to work all day Christmas Eve on potato dishes and trays of pumpkin cobbler.
“We hope this will help bring a sense of community back to Paradise,” Wood said, “and show them that there are people out there who care and want to help.”
