Chili Champs & Charity – The Perfect Combination!
The 6th Annual Hometown Heroes Chili Cook- Off serves up the heat on November 12th
STORY BY: AMI BROWN
Make your way to the Oak Island Moose Lodge for the The 6th Annual Hometown Heroes Chili Cook-Off (12:30 – 3 p.m.) all you need is 5 bucks and hearty appetite for chili, chili and more chili! Come and taste them all! From beef, pork, chicken to venison and vegetarian, hot, mild and in between, there will be chili for everyone.
Oh yes… with and without beans. Some in crockpots cook overnight, some sit and sim- mer on the stove. Some have onions, peppers and chunks of tomato… some are even secret family recipes. All this chili talk is really making me hungry! For a chili-sampling good time, this is the place for you. The Hometown Heroes Chili Cook-Off is a community event you definitely do not want to miss.
Brunswick County locals have lined up to enter this year’s chili contest. Our Hometown Heroes entrants are open to Brunswick County Scouts, First Responders (Sheriff’s Dept, Fire Dept, EMS, etc.), Active or Retired Military Veterans and a separate category reserved just for local restaurants.
The organizers always have individuals asking each year to participate, but sorry folks, it’s only for our community heroes at this time. The Civitans would love to see the project grow even bigger, but they would need to hire an organizer, which is more cost.
Fun for the whole day will include live music to delight the senses as you partake in your chili choice. There will also be a silent auction, 50/50 raffle, and a bake sale. You can sample all the chili and vote for your favorite. You’ll have to stay around until the end to find out who the Chili Champs are.
Last year the Sheriff’s Department won first place for the Judges Award and had the honor all year to display the “Perpetual
Chili Cup Trophy”. The Boy Scouts won the People’s Choice Award Plaque and Southport Smokehouse took out the restaurant division. The WWAY reporters make the perfect judges, tasting and reporting all the scrumptious results as the action unfolds.
This year the group anticipates more entries, yummier chili and even bigger prizes. The bake sale includes home made pies, cakes, and plenty of mouth-watering sweets for the discerning sweet-tooth. Each year local businesses donate gift certificates, merchandise, jewelry, loaded baskets and lots of other fun goodies for the raffle and silent auction.
All this chili is delicious, but the funds raised on the day is the true icing on the cake. The Apple Project puts iPads in the EC (exception children’s) classrooms in Brunswick County. Some of these kids don’t learn in the conventional way, some are even non-verbal and are unable to communicate. The teachers expressed a need, and the Civitans stepped up, making it their goal for every room!
These iPads are a tremendous learning tool that the children can use, learn and even communicate with special apps installed. The learning tools feel like games, so it makes learning basic skills like reading and math, fun and easy.
So far the Civitans have put 40 iPads in the classrooms, with another 60 to go. Brunswick County schools are a powerful partner in the project and are dedicated to keeping the iPads within each EC classroom. Where there is currently no additional funds available for these classrooms, this is a vital project for these teachers.
Flagship member, Jonathan Peele said, “We know how important this project is to the children, it’s beneficial to the teachers and the more people realize that, we can gain more and more support.” It sure would be great to raise enough this year the 60 iPads needed.
The SE Brunswick Civitan group sponsors this growing fundraiser each year, with all the proceeds of the Chili Cook Off going directly back to the local community and the Apple Project. The group focusses their funds all year on kids with special needs, the Boys & Girls Club at Lake Waccamaw, Special Olympics Spring Games, Duke Children’s Hospital and Children’s Brain Cancer Research Programs.
If you would like to sponsor, donate or volunteer, please give Jonathan Peele a call. It’s not too late to enter too if you are a lo- cal restaurant or hero! Call 910-454-0707 or email: jonathan@coastlineinsurance.com.
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By: Ami Brown
Ami is an artist, writer and all around creative person. She recently moved back to NC from a ten year stint in New Zealand, where she owned her own art gallery. She began her journalism career back in high school, but reconnected with her writing roots over the past few years. She is now a professional screenwriter and editor and loves watching great movies. She lives in Oak Island with her husband Norm, a boating enthusiast. Her two grown children stayed in New Zealand – her daughter Ashley is an artist and graphic designer and her son Trey makes movie magic at Weta Digital.
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