Pam Loosle and Franchesca Pena

[00:04] FRANCHESCA PENA: Hi, my name is Franchesca Pena. Today's date is May 17, 2023. I'm here in Logan, Utah, with Pam, who I just met.

[00:14] PAM LOOSLE: I'm Pam Loosle I'm 63. Today's date is May 17, 2023. We're in Logan, Utah, and my interview partner is Franchesca We just met today, and I'm excited to share a little bit about my story and some of the fun volunteer work that I do with our local chocolate festival, which is a yearly fundraiser here in the valley that helps a lot of people, and it involves chocolate and giving, and chocolate just brings people together. So it's a great fundraiser.

[00:50] FRANCHESCA PENA: I love that. Okay, so I'll start with my first question, Pam, which is, what made you want to enter and get involved as a volunteer for the chocolate festival?

[01:00] PAM LOOSLE: The very first chocolate festival was 36 years ago, and two ladies that I worked with at Utah State decided to start this. They wondered what kind of fundraiser they could do, and the funds go to support Planned Parenthood in Logan. That helps a lot of the students at Utah State, a lot of families. And so they wondered what kind of fundraiser would be fun and get a lot of people involved. So they both loved chocolate, and they started this fundraiser, and from the very first year, it was a hit, and they charged people a few dollars, and you were able to sample things. As it grew, it outgrew the venue. They had to get a bigger venue. We've been through several different places. We're now at the Riverwoods conference center, and we have a big, huge area. It's a professional and amateur contest, so anything chocolate and even non chocolate items can be bid. What you do is if I want to make a batch of brownies, I make a batch to auction and to show, and then I make another batch or two or three or five and cut them up in bite sized sample pieces for everybody to taste. And you buy a ticket, and it, I believe it was $10 for a ticket. And the ticket gets you ten tastes. So you can buy two tickets or three tickets, and you go around and look at all of the different amateur things and professional things within the amateur. They asked that young kids, youth are trying to enter, or a young child with a parent or grandparent, and there's different divisions for each one. The professionals compete against each other, the teenagers compete against each other, the amateurs. And there's brownies, cakes, cookies, dipped chocolates. There's even a category for, they call it potpourri. So it's anything non chocolate or that doesn't fit into those other categories. So I've had good luck in the past with fudge. I have a really great fudge recipe. I've done blueberry fudge, pina colada fudge, triple layer chocolate fudge. And last year was a wonderful triple layer with blue, pink, and white. The blue and white were vanilla, and the pink was strawberry. And it was a very, very fun and record breaking year. This last year, as it has been almost every year, has broken the record since the previous year. But it has been so fun to enter. At the very beginning, I went and supported it, but I wasn't sure enough as my of my cooking skills at that time, and I wanted to enter just to support it, just to be a bigger part of it. But I did go and support it then as the years passed, and I did take some cooking classes, and my grandmother was a candy maker, and I have some of her recipes. I was kind of scared to try them and, you know, maybe ruin it. But then I decided, you've got to start somewhere. And even my grandma started. She might have had to throw something away when she was first baking. And so I started and I used some of her recipes, and I practice throughout the year. I try new recipes. If somebody tears one out of a magazine and gives it to me, or if I taste something somewhere, I will try to recreate it. So I have done cookies, cakes, dip chocolates. I don't like to dip chocolates. It's very, very temperamental. But a really good chocolate or truffle with drizzled chocolate or some chocolate sprinkles or something is fun. And I try to make something that looks fun to bid on as well as fun to eat. And part of the judging is how it looks, how it's presented, how you've used the chocolate. And a very small part of the judging is the taste. So they want it to be fun. They want it to be something that people will want to bid on and that people will want to sample. The judges, everybody that puts together, it's all volunteers. And so close to 100%, other than printing costs and a few things, it all goes to Planned Parenthood. And we do have a Planned Parenthood clinic here in Logan. I don't think people realize everything that Planned Parenthood does, because some people think of Planned Parenthood and just think of one negative thing. But men are able to get cancer screenings, women are able to get all kinds of medical care, and teenagers and the students at Utah State are able to get care and not be turned away. You're asked to pay the portion that you can afford. And if you can't afford, you're not turned away. And other clinics, other hospitals and doctors offices aren't able to do that. Not everybody has health coverage. A lot of students are no longer on their parents plan, so they're not supported through their parents insurance. But there's always medical issues and there's always a need. And I'm very glad that we have Planned Parenthood here in our valley. And they help all kinds of people. And this festival, once a year, helps continue that help for people. And I have gotten to know other volunteers and other people. As I started entering. My first time was 18 years ago, and I made a homemade peppermint and rolled it into little balls and dipped it in white chocolate and then used little decorations to make little miniature, like, not even two inches high. Little snowman.

[07:22] FRANCHESCA PENA: That's so cute.

[07:23] PAM LOOSLE: And I put a little, like a cupcake or cookie sprinkle. It was in the shape of a heart. So I had that in their hand and it looked like they were exchanging. Valentine's chocolate festival is usually the Saturday before Valentine's. And so it's about chocolate, it's about Valentine's, it's about love, and it's about helping each other. And that very first entry won in the non chocolate category, and it was white chocolate. I dipped them in white chocolate. I think I said that, but it bid for dollar 75. And so that encouraged me to enter again. And the very first time I entered, I wasn't able to attend because I had a conflict that night. But I went during the afternoon and entered and then found out later on that I had won. And it encouraged me to enter again and to try something different. And I've come up with different things. Everything is a hit. Every little thing helps. Every batch of cookies, batch of brownies, whatever anybody enters helps help support this. And it's just been really awesome to get to know people. As soon as I started entering, I also. That next year, I started volunteering. And volunteers help put out the posters. They help make people aware of it. They help talking to other businesses that maybe would support us with a prize or something to auction. The chocolate is auctioned, but there's also other things, like I made a quilt and a table runner. Other companies have donated the yurt up in Green Canyon, I think for a night out, the yurt and different things throughout the valley that other businesses have sponsored us. So I helped set up, I helped clean up afterwards. I've helped with the judges who are also volunteers. And it's all one day. But last year, we raised $55,000 in one day.

[09:43] FRANCHESCA PENA: That's incredible.

[09:44] PAM LOOSLE: It is.

[09:45] FRANCHESCA PENA: Is there a moment from one of the festivals that is particularly special to you, or a memory or a moment that stands out to you?

[09:53] PAM LOOSLE: Yes, there's a couple. I made cookies one year, and it was a recipe that I wanted to try and thought it would be something that people would like. I'm also a dessert model, so I walk around when they're doing the live auction. There's some silent auction items and some live auction items. So a couple of friends and I dress up. We wear hats and gloves. Sometimes one of the guys that helps us wears his kilt, and we walk around with the dessert item or the item up for auction and show it to the audience as the auctioneer is doing the live bidding. And I was holding my own winner that year, these cookies, and I didn't even have two dozen in the little box that I had created for the auction, but two guys just kept bidding and bidding and bidding against each other, and it went up to 250 and then $275 and then 300. And I thought I. I should have brought another basket, and it ended up going for $350 for less than two dozen cookies. But people are willing to bid. People are wanting to bid. It's a 501 c nonprofit. It's a tax write off. It works for everybody. So, actually, this last year, I did bring a second item. It was a triple chocolate cheesecake. I had an extra cheesecake for samples that I'd kept in the freezer, and we didn't need it for samples. We ran out. The last four samples were exactly what we needed. So when the bidding was going on, the same thing. Two ladies were bidding against each other, and it went to 300 and 350 and 401. Lady bid $500. On a cheesecake. On a wonderful cheesecake. And then another lady bid 525. And so she won it for 525. But then I went to the second lady and said, I have another cheesecake, and she ended up taking that. So that helped raise the funds just that much more, and everybody was happy, and, you know, it worked out. I love to see people bringing families and children. Planned Parenthood is exactly what it says. Planned Parenthood. They want every child to be wanted and loved and to be able to afford having children. Children are a huge responsibility, but. And children are loved, and Planned Parenthood wants people to be able to love their children and care for them and have all the necessary things in their life to have children. And not everybody has healthcare resources and different things. So they I mean, they have all kinds of options, but birth control is a huge option for people because you need to plan and you want to plan. And there's all kinds of different things that happen in life and the fact that they're here and they can talk to people and educate people, and that's a lot of it is education about things and medical opportunities and things that young students, young people, young married couples need to understand and be able to understand when they want to plan a family, when they're able to. But it's not, it shouldn't be something that is a surprise or unplanned. And so I think it's great that they have a lot of families come and you need to state whether your dessert item has something allergic, nuts, dairy, and if there is alcohol in it. And so people know beforehand if they can, if something is vegan. So we have a lot of different people that come, and there's a lot of Utah state students that support it. It's a really fun, inexpensive night because every $10 ticket, every hundred dollar bid, everything, it all adds up. And that 55,000 is a whole bunch of $10, $25, $100 donations that people have made and decided to support. So it's fun to see the young families in the river woods. You're able to sit and mingle. There's coffee and water and there's tables to sit at. There's live music. It's a very, very fun, festive atmosphere. And it just promotes people having a conversation and a conversation about chocolate, a conversation about planned parenthood, a conversation about our community. So many people, it's just the community minded people, the forward thinking, progressive thought process that people, I think, need to have and need to understand that. And we, everybody coexists, everybody gets along. And it's just a really fun, fun night. They make it a competition to make it fun. But I actually compete against other friends. And some of the people who volunteer with the chocolate festival also enter. And so we joke, what are you going to enter this year? Are we going to be competing or what group? Because there's a prize in each. There's a prize for dip chocolates, there's a prize for brownies, a prize for cakes, and all of the different categories, and then a grand prize and a people's choice award. Not only do you get to sample everything, you get to vote on what you like the best. And then the prizes are given after the live auction, the silent auction that goes on during the evening, and then the live auction is at the very end of the evening. And then the people from Salt Lake come from the main Planned Parenthood office in Salt Lake, and they support us totally. They help us get things set up. They actually helped us during COVID We wondered if we could pull off a chocolate festival that is all about sampling chocolate and seeing chocolate and seeing what you can do with all different kinds of chocolate, if we could pull that off online with no samples. And we did, and we raised.

[16:59] FRANCHESCA PENA: I managed to do that with a.

[17:02] PAM LOOSLE: Lot of help from the techno people down in Salt Lake and just a lot of luck and prayer. We weren't sure because Covid shut down so many things, but people kept asking about it and if we were going to have it, when we were going to have it. So we did it online. And they actually interviewed some of us and had a little video clip about how we supported the chocolate festival and what kind of things we did. And I was able to do a video on that, and they asked me to make some previous winners. So I made a dark chocolate raspberry fudge and a pina colada fudge. And they still did the bidding online. So people from out of town and out of state were able to be a part of that and not worry about what the weather was like or being able to come in person. Everyone did it online and the bidding went really well. We figured if we just got a few thousand, any little bit helps. And we were able to get 30,036. I think the next year, two years, we had to go without an in person chocolate festival. But last year, we were so grateful to be able to do it and to be able to get together again. Some of these people I only see at the chocolate festival, and especially the people from Salt Lake that come up and support us. Kerry Galloway, that was the president and CEO of the Planned Parenthood in the state of Utah, she would always come and talked to us right before the bidding started on the live auction and just thank everyone for coming and let us know what was going on with Planned Parenthood and with the different things going on in our country and giving us an up to date idea of what was going on and just talking about what the need that we still have for Planned Parenthood and the need we have for everybody to have education and knowledge and understanding about all of our reproductive issues. And it affects men, it affects women, it affects everyone, it affects children and families. And so I know she supports all of the different fundraisers that Planned Parenthood has across the state, but Logan is a really, really big fundraiser, and it's a fun fundraiser. We know how to put the fun into it. So it was good to get to know Carrie. She has retired, and the new people will continue to come up and continue to support us. So I feel very lucky and very good about the chocolate festival because everything I do, every part of my volunteering helps. Entering and bringing something physical to donate an auction is great, but everything everybody does helps toward this. So you wonder sometimes, can one person make a difference? Does it really matter? Or does one person? But like I said, every ticket, every $20, every $50, and it all stays in our valley, too. So the fundraisers they have in other cities stay in those cities, but the fundraiser we have here stays here. That's all staying within our community. Anybody in our valley, and the students, wherever they're from, to go to Utah, state here, they're able to have access to that and whatever they need. And it's, of course, private. And whenever they want or need to call and get information, it's available to them. So the chocolate festivals are very friendly, safe environment. It promotes people having a conversation, getting to know different people. And I've never gone away after cleaning up after a whole day of chocolate. I've never gone home without a big smile and just feeling good in my heart that all of that goes to help people that need the help. And I'm retired now. I had a hard time going to the chocolate festival because it usually coincided with a work, a commitment that I had right before Valentine's. But I would donate, I would enter anyway, and then if I couldn't go, I would just be able to donate, and. But then I started after I retired, I was able to go and then go earlier in the day to help them set up and help with everything and help get the word out, talk to different businesses beforehand and encourage people to come and attend. People that haven't heard of it before are like, what, a chocolate festival? Tasting and checking out everything. So, yeah, it's just super fun.

[22:22] FRANCHESCA PENA: What would you say to someone who wants to get involved with the chocolate festival?

[22:28] PAM LOOSLE: Come and see what it's like and donate something. If you want to donate for the categories, you can. We also started to do something a few years ago because some of the people that stayed for the live auction to bid on things. If three or four people are bidding on a cake, only one of them goes home with it. And you can bid on things, but there's only so many things to bid on, and so you can go home with just the samples that you've tasted and we wanted to make it so that people could go home with a bag of stuff. So we started doing smaller goodie bags. So it might have a half a pound of chocolates, it might have four cupcakes instead of a great big, a whole cake or a dozen cupcakes, maybe four or six brownies. So these goodie bags are 510, $15. You can take three or four different goody bags and still be under $100. So if you wanted to bake something in a smaller amount, you could bring that the night before. We package it up and wrap it, and we list the ingredients on it for allergy purposes and dietary issues. And then we put a price on it and people are able to buy it. But come the first time and see and just bring something to donate and see how much that fills your heart to be able to donate and participate. And I guarantee you'll want to bring something next year. And I present it in the auction and all kinds of amateur cooks, all kinds of amateur bakers, and like I say, parent and children. I would love to have my grandkids enter with me and make something with me and have it be their idea or their recipe or have them help me just put it together. I think it would be fun. And everybody that enters has this feeling of I'm part of this bigger part of the project. It's every single person. The competition is fun. There are prizes. I don't do it for the prizes. I don't do it for the winning first or second place, but I do it because it helps. And because I can just baking something, I can do that. So because the pina colada fudge has been popular. And also I entered one year with a dark chocolate caramel, which I thought might be a hit. It's a real soft, yummy, chocolate flavored caramel. But I also entered a black licorice caramel, and the black licorice caramel bid for dollar 100, and it was the winner. The other caramel, Washington. Yeah, but that was funny to me. So I continually bring that each year, and that is in the goody bag, so people can depend on that and know that that's going to be one of the items for sale that they can take home a little bit. Blast them.

[25:56] FRANCHESCA PENA: And you said that the festival, is it the Saturday this year or did it pass already?

[26:00] PAM LOOSLE: Saturday before Valentine's.

[26:02] FRANCHESCA PENA: Oh, gotcha. So, Pam, what are your future goals?

[26:07] PAM LOOSLE: I would like to keep working and volunteering with the chocolate festival in as many ways as I can with helping get the posters out and helping get the place set up and everything. As I talk to people, as I meet people, I'm a quilter. I have other things that I do. But when I talk to people about the chocolate festival, I encourage them to come. I encourage them to support me. I encourage them to see what it's all about and enter if they want to. And just getting the word out to more and more people. There's people that have lived here for a long time that haven't been yet, and I don't think they. It's hard to tell people about it because it's something that you kind of need to experience and see what it's like. Because when you think about $55,000 that people have donated generously for chocolate, for tasting and trying different kinds of chocolate, that's a lot of donations and a lot of chocolate. A lot of fun.

[27:24] FRANCHESCA PENA: Let's see. Is there anything else about the chocolate festival that we haven't covered?

[27:32] PAM LOOSLE: I think we've covered everything. Did I mention how much fun it is and how yummy it is?

[27:37] FRANCHESCA PENA: Yeah, it sounds like a real staple of the community.

[27:41] PAM LOOSLE: It is. It is. And we have people that really want to be there and really want to support it. So I'm glad we were able to keep it going during COVID And now that we're back in person, we will keep it going. We have people that support us and we all love doing it. All the volunteers, all the people that donate and donate time and any kind of resources. So thank you so much for talking with me about something that I'm very passionate and very happy about that I think brings a lot to our community.

[28:13] FRANCHESCA PENA: Yeah, thank you for telling me about it.