Who is Ginny of “Ginny’s Grill”?
Ginny Cardelli was Jan Cardelli’s mom. Jan was a summer staff from Minnesota. Jan was here for many summers as a backpack guide and a behind the scenes key person. Even to this day, Jan continues to come back to Sonlight bringing campers from Minnesota for a week or two. She has been a part of Sonlight for 30+ years.
Every Memorial Day weekend, Sonlight would have an old fashion “barn raising party” to construct another log cabin. One Memorial Day weekend (circa early 1990’s), we decide to erect two logs cabins at the same time, over the same 3 days. Jan’s parents from Minnesota, decided to come and see where their daughter had been for many summers. Seeing the weekend project, Jan’s father simply shook his head and keep saying, “ no way”. Jan’s mom, ever the optimist and always smiling, just smiled. Jan’s mom would help in the kitchen cooking for the 60 plus people that were here for the weekend. She loved to cook and feed people.
Years later, after a long relationship with Jan’s parents, her parents passed away in the same year. Jan donated money to Sonlight in memory of her parents. Since her mom, Ginny, loved to cook and feed people, it was simple to figure out what and how to honor her mom and dad at Sonlight. Build something to cook and feed people. Hence, Ginny’s Grill was born.
To date, thousands of meals have been cooked and served on “Ginny’s Grill”. Jan’s mom, Ginny, has to be smiling in heaven, as campers continue to be loved and fed off “Ginny’s Grill”.