And the winner is the community.

On Saturday Oct. 1, the community’s representatives and service members got together to host a chili cookoff. 

The money raised by the cookoff is going straight back into the community as presents for underprivileged children this Christmas. In combination with a chili cookoff, there was an auction of deserts provided by community members. This event is yet another annual tradition that has been brought back by the slowing spread of COVID-19. 

This chili cookoff was organized by the Lions Club and hosted by the Fire Department. “This is something that really means a lot to us,” Lioness DJ Bowen said. The Lions Club is a humanitarian organization with a branch in Mount Washington. One of their main focuses is serving the youth, so this event really highlights their mission. “We were more than happy to host this event because I think it’s just so important to give back to your community,” Fire Department Chief Michael Dooley said. The event used to be hosted in another venue owned by the Lions Club, but as it grew, they quickly needed a larger venue. The Fire Department quickly jumped in and offered their space. 

“The money goes to a project called Angel Tree, which is through the Peoples Bank,” Lion Donnie Jesse said. Peoples Bank teamed up with Salvation Army a couple of years back to provide Christmas presents for kids whose parents weren’t able to afford them. This is something that the Lions Club has consistently raised awareness for and organized events to assist. 

In previous years, the event has done wonders for the kids in the community. In last year’s chili cook off, $4,100 was raised. “We try to give each kid around one-hundred dollars worth of presents, so we ended up getting forty-one kids presents,” Bowen said. This year the event raised $4,560. The event has seen its numbers progress each and every year and the Lions Club is very happy with the direction it’s going.

“You know I’m just here to help out, but it’s still a competition, and I think it’ll be hard to beat the Fire Department on their home turf,” County Circuit Clerk Paulita Keith said. This sentiment resonated with many people at the cookoff. However, the Lions Club ended up taking the win in the end. 

“The auction is something we started a little after the cookoff,” Jesse said. They wanted to start raising additional funds during the event without having to raise the entry fee, so they came up with the auction seeing it as a fun way for the community to donate to a good cause.

 “It was really funny seeing the mayor and that firefighter fighting over who got that jar of peanut brittle,” attendee Anh Ho said. The mayor ended up taking the win in his duel with the firefighter and purchasing the peanut brittle for $120. This interaction is exactly what the Lions Club was hoping for when they started up the auction. 

“We used to do this every year, and it’s just good to be back,” Dooley said. Coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic, a lot of events like this are beginning to come back, and the community is starting to come together again in a way we haven’t seen for many years.