Jingle Mingle Prep
Jingle Mingle began twenty or so years ago as an event simply called “The Feast,” during which administrators served food to staff members in the cafeteria. Ten staff members organized the entire event, including Executive Chef JoAnn Williams and Retail Manager Regina Hobson. 
As Cook Children’s grew, so did the celebration. Spearheaded by JoAnn and Regina, the meal spread first to the atrium and eventually spilled outside to Pruitt. This year, with JoAnn and Regina still at the helm, the celebration took up both sides of Pruitt and served thousands of staff members.
Regina and JoAnn begin Jingle Mingle planning in July. Each year, they put together a massive binder with a page for every food item, spreadsheets for shipping orders and diagrams for each of the 55 tables.
The entire event is planned, run and staffed by about 135 people from the Environmental Services and the Food Services Departments. Director of EVS and Food Services Brian Bergeon is a boss who gets on the ground with his team while also empowering staff to be leaders in their own right. 
EVS and Food Services staff manage every aspect of Jingle Mingle, from food preparation to trash removal to event breakdown. Staff do all of this while fulfilling their normal duties; for example, Food Supply and Safety Supervisor Veronica Moultry oversees Camelot Court and the other food retail outlets while the other staff at Jingle Mingle. Supervisor Alvin Palmer and Supervisor of Room Service Stacie Green manage meals for patients.
Last year, Jingle Mingle used 8,000 plates. This year, the team used biodegradable trays to be more environmentally friendly. 
The kitchen utilizes one massive, rotating oven that holds 16 trays at once to bake cookies. Along with baking for Jingle Mingle, Baker Tonya Carter and Cook Regina Armstrong prepared dough for 13,472 cookies for the Holiday Extravaganza.
There usually isn’t much leftover food, but any leftovers usually go to the Emergency Room department since staff members there might not have time to attend Jingle Mingle.
Among the many food items amassed for Jingle Mingle this year, the department ordered 1,600 wings, 4,464 hot dogs and 2,940 chicken taquitos. 
Staff use 104 chafers (catering dishes that keep food warm) to make sure everything is kept hot and ready to serve. Food and Nutrition Sous Chefs Harold Dary and Tony Dennis, who have been involved with Jingle Mingle since its inception 20 years ago, and Gracie Lopez, Starbucks Supervisor, are in charge of refueling the chafers as needed. Vernon Lee, Catering Team Supervisor, helps organize the beverages and makes sure we never run out. 
All the food is delivered on a trailer truck the day before Jingle Mingle. Gil Gomez, Supervisor Purchasing, manages a team who unpacks, organizes and tracks the hundreds of boxes. They then organize and repack the cartons back in the truck to make sure everything stays cold.
In order to prepare all of the food at Jingle Mingle, teams cook inside and outside the kitchen. In the parking garage next to the buffet, Angie Davis and Supervisor Erica Powell run the 11 fryers and four ovens, carefully tracking when to speed up or slow down the movement of food.
Jingle Mingle is constantly evolving. This year, the team proposed the separate Dessert Tent because they noticed the food line would get backed up as people carefully selected their sweet treats at the end of the tent. They also made sure to order more chicken taquitos after running out of the rolled tacos last year.
And…. Jingle Mingle Was a Huge Success
View photos from the 2024 event at Medical Center-Fort Worth and at Calmont here.
