It may have started more than 35 years ago, but those El Portal Middle School students who were involved in the Little Chefs program are planning to get together for a reunion.

Founder of the program was Patsy Laws; she was part of the food service team at the middle school for about 10 years and started the Little Chefs program there. It ran from 1984 to 1991.

It was a way for kids to gain some confidence, she said, first helping to serve lunch but then expanding to become a special after-school activity.

“I just feel very lucky, having been able to work with the kids,” she said of the participants.

As an after-school activity, they got more involved in baking items from scratch, including cookies and pies, which became well known throughout the community.

“The PTA had Bingo on Friday nights, “Laws recalled. “The first time we baked homemade pies for them we did eight, then we went up to 20 or 25.”

Laws said they also raised their own funds to take some field trips, putting on a Western chili bean dinner.

“We developed a scholarship and did an enchilada fundraiser for that,” Laws added, selling an estimated 1,500 enchiladas their busiest year.

If the students joined the program while they were at El Portal, they were able to continue with it in high school if they chose to, Laws said.

“The kids had to keep their grades up,” she added of being able to stay active in the program. “Escalon supported the program; we did things for the library, the fire department, different groups would ask us to do a luncheon for them.”

She said the students took pride in putting a good product out each time they were called on. However, they also did get a little mischievous on occasion.

“Their favorite thing to do, after they served and cleaned up, was to have whipped cream fights,” Laws reminisced.

They also at one point got to enjoy a field trip to eat out themselves, and were taken to the restaurant by limousine.

When they arrived at their destination and got seated inside, Laws said the students asked where the driver was; she answered that he was still outside with the limo, waiting for them. She said all the students insisted that the driver be brought inside to share the special dinner with them.

That, she said, is a point of pride as the students learned not only culinary but also life skills in the class.

“The kids were from different backgrounds, they got exposed to different foods,” she noted. “It was a fun program.”

The upcoming reunion is scheduled for Saturday, Aug. 5 at 1 p.m. at the Community Center Park in Escalon and Laws is hoping to see many of the program participants and catch up with them now as adults.

“The kids were friends, they treated each other with respect,” she noted. “All these kids, I’m anxious to see what they’ve done.”