RIVER VALLEY and OZARK AREA — Paula Reeder of Dardanelle leads a double life. Under the ticktock of the classroom clock, she teaches fourth grade at Perryville, but by the light of the moon, she bakes and decorates cakes and tends to the nutritional needs of her church family.
Reeder, raised in Fort Smith with four siblings, became the designated family cook at 13 years old. She concedes that her mother, who ran a baby-sitting business, tried to acclimate her daughter to sewing, but the young Paula preferred the kitchen.
Early in her marriage she worked at the Kroger Deli and learned the art of cake decorating.
“I was fascinated,” she said, “and it really piqued my imagination.”
Reeder is known as the Cake Lady at her day job.
“I pay the principal off in cheesecakes,” she said and laughed. “The teachers love it when I show up with cakes, and I love it when I receive compliments.”
The teachers aren’t the only benefactors of Reeder’s culinary talents. She has supplied birthday cakes for more students than she can count and has recently added wedding cakes to her repertoire.
“I catered my first wedding and actually had three weddings on the same weekend,” she said. “My favorite cakes are those I create in my head.”
Reeder is married to Billy, a multimedia journalism professor at Arkansas Tech University and music leader at a campus worship service on Sunday mornings. Billy doesn’t have a sweet tooth to speak of.
“He likes my Chicken Fettuccine Alfredo,” she said. “He will tell you that my recipes don’t taste the same each time and that I really need to wear an apron.”
On her experimental brand of cooking, Reeder admits she doesn’t follow the recipes to a T.
“I cook with love,” she said.
Her husband’s involvements have allowed Reeder the opportunity to share the love with slightly older than fourth-grade students.
“One of the girls in our wedding is a freshman at Tech, and we started feeding her each Wednesday night, and she started bringing friends. It just grew to about a dozen each Wednesday night,” Reeder said, “and they have really blessed us. Now that they’re all home for the summer, there are great conversations on Facebook each Wednesday night with the students asking what we have planned for supper.”
With her students young and old taking a break from academia, Reeder turned to her church flock. Already, she was putting out breakfast Danishes and fruit at the pre-service coffeehouse at the Wesley Foundation, where Wesley United Methodist Church hosts a Sunday service.
“Well, it all began when a group of us started going out to eat after worship every Sunday,” she said. “We got tired of standing in long lines, and we had members who had been laid off or who had children, so we started potlucking after church. We called it Friends Potluck, and we had 10 core families involved. After awhile, we decided to open the doors to everyone in the church.”
What happened next was nothing short of a miracle, Reeder said.
“I thought the ‘loaves and fish’ had miraculously multiplied because we came with food to feed 10 families, and 50 plus people came that first Sunday.”
It was such a success that the Friends Potluck has become a weekly event, feeding an average of 65 people and as eagerly anticipated as the Wednesday evening meal with the students. The potlucks follow different themes, such as Mexican, Italian, Southern comfort food and even breakfast at lunchtime.
The Friends Potluck has been so successful, in fact, that last week Reeder added a Wednesday-evening meal to coordinate with a summertime family fun night at the Wesley main campus a mile away.
“Our thought, when we planned this, was to provide one hot meal during the week for children who might not be receiving that. We have so many children in this community who are on the backpack program receiving a pack filled with cereal every week,” she said. “Our church believes we should do more.”
Reeder is glad to have more leisure time during the summer to cook.
“I’m so looking forward to trying out new recipes,” she said. “I love to cook to make people happy,” she said. “It is a blessing to serve others.”
Wesley United Methodist Church, 300 N. Cumberland in Russellville, hosts dinner and fun at 6 p.m. Wednesdays at Wesley. The public is invited. The Wesley Foundation, 111 N. El Paso Ave. on the Arkansas Tech campus, is the location for the Sunday-morning contemporary worship at 11, followed by the Friends Potluck. The public is invited, and no food contribution is necessary.
Enjoy Paula’s favorite recipes:STRAWBERRY TREAT Ingredients: White cake mix and necessary ingredients Jar of strawberry preserves Directions:
Make white cake and bake in two 8-inch round cake pans.
Ingredients for icing: 1 cup butter, softened 1/3 strawberry liqueur 4 cups confectioners’ sugar 1/4 cup whipping cream Directions:
Beat butter until creamy. Gradually add confectioners’ sugar, liqueur and cream, beating until smooth.
Directions for assembly:
Take each round cake and cut into two layers. Place first layer on plate and spread with icing. Add next layer and spread with strawberry preserves. Repeat with cake, icing and preserves. After top layer is on, spread icing over the entire cake.
River Valley Ozark, Pages 61 on 06/17/2010