Have a secret chili recipe? Here's your chance to shine
By John Joyce
Published in News on October 11, 2015 1:50 AM
Polish off those spoons and ladles. The Community Soup Kitchen's annual Really Chili Challenge is back, and team entries are filling up quickly.
Chili challenge co-chairperson Rosalyn Lomax said 15 teams have already entered and the cutoff is set for 25 teams.
The event is scheduled for Oct. 24 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the John Street parking lot downtown.
"This year I think that means we will have access, maybe, to Center Street, but it is behind the Flying Shamrock," Mrs. Lomax said.
In previous years the cookoff has been held in the parking lot across from the Paramount Theatre. And once, when Hurricane Sandy threatened, the event was moved to the Goldsboro Family Y.
Teams can arrive and begin setting up at 8 a.m. The judging begins at 11 a.m. when the gates open to the public.
There is a $75 fee for teams to enter, and tickets are available for $5. Children ages 5 and younger enter free.
"The most coveted prize seems to be people's choice," Mrs. Lomax said.
Aside from the first-, second- and third-place prizes and the winner for best booth, the people's choice award indicates the chili the people came back to most for second or third helpings.
"It's actually the team who raises the most money. We used to have tokens dropped into a pot, where people tasted the chili and liked it the best -- or people knew the team and wanted to support it; there is some popularity involved there -- but a few years ago we started collecting money for votes," Mrs. Lomax said. "And nobody complained about that."
As of Sept. 15, the Community Soup Kitchen, located at 112 W. Oak St. in Goldsboro, had served 32,217 meals this year. Soup Kitchen records date back 35 years and continue to grow, as do its needs.
Mrs. Lomax said community volunteers and donations are what keep the kitchen going.
Director Doricia Benton agreed. She said that seasonal shifts have no impact on the number of families and individuals who come to the soup kitchen seeking help. The need exists year-round.
"The flow is consistent throughout the year," Mrs. Benton said.
On average, seven to nine volunteers run the kitchen each day. Sometimes church groups, Scouts or other groups seeking community service hours or volunteer experience will schedule time to come help out, Mrs. Lomax said. But there is no such thing as too much volunteering.
She said that once, a group who could not get the time slot they asked for to serve in the kitchen -- the slots were filled in advance by other volunteers -- still showed up and built picnic tables outside the soup kitchen.
"Individual citizens, local merchants, the restaurant folks are wonderful about giving. Churches who have big dinners or who have extras of anything share that with the soup kitchen," Mrs. Lomax said.
Currently the soup kitchen is in need of crackers, cups, trash bags -- 13 and 55 gallon sizes -- and personal hygiene items.
"And love," Mrs. Benton said.
The people who come to the soup kitchen in need of assistance are not commonly the panhandlers and the vagabonds people might associate with being hungry. There are a lot of misconceptions out there that need to be dispelled, Mrs. Lomax said.
"There are many families, there are many people who do have occasional work," she said.
People of all ages, ethnic backgrounds, some who are homeless and some who are not, some who are employed and some who are not, both men and women, as well as children and senior citizens all frequent the soup kitchen.
"There are people with good hearts. And everyone who comes is served. I love that concept," Mrs. Lomax said.
There is no drug testing. There is no screening.
"There is no, 'Do you really have enough money in your pocket to buy lunch downtown,'" she said.
If someone comes and says they are hungry, that person is served, Mrs. Lomax said.
Those seeking to enter the Really Chili Challenge can find more information and entry forms at www.communitysoupkitchen.org. And anyone wishing to support the Community Soup Kitchen can find out how by contacting the website or getting in touch with director Doricia Benton at dbenton@communitysoupkitchen.org or by calling 919-731-3939.