Soup kitchen chili cook-off raises more than $1,200

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Good chili should be spicy, according to Larry Hamp.

“It should burn your mouth,” said Hamp, a Robinson Residential Restaurant employee at Central Michigan University. “You should leave with a gallon of milk.”

The Alma resident, along with fellow employees Nicole Dell and Reagan Gaines of Mount Pleasant, were in the winner’s circle at the fifth annual George Dalton Great Chili cook-off at the Isabella Community Soup Kitchen.

Their recipe included jalapeños, ground beef, vinicine, a lot of beans and a variety of spices, Gaines said. It will now be served in the residential restaurants on campus.

More than 120 people attended the chili cook-off fundraiser, which is expected to have raised more than $1,200, according to Genny Sobaski, Isabella Community Soup Kitchen executive director.

The cook-off is named for the deceased George Dalton, a former head cook who died of cancer a few years ago, Sobaski said.

The winning teams received several ribbons, Great Lakes Loons tickets and gift certificates for Auto Zone, Cottage Inn, a car wash and bowling.

This was the Robinson team’s first entry into the cook-off, but they do not expect it will be their last.

“We’re going to win next year,” Dell said.

This was Coldwater junior Monique Dunn’s first time participating in the cook-off.

“It sounded really cool, so I signed up, ” she said.

This year, they held a silent auction featuring inflatable snow globes, lamps, coffee mugs and other branded apparel. Local businesses and residents made contributions to the auction fund-raiser, said Sobaski.

Sobaski said the Isabella Community Soup Kitchen, 621 S. Adams St., is always looking for volunteers and volunteers.

At the cook-off, volunteers arranged chili pepper lights from the ceiling, Sombreros and peanuts on colorful tablecloths.

“We can always use financial help,” she said. “We’ve replaced a lot of equipment.”

To volunteer call 989-772-7392 Monday through Saturday.

metro@cm-lfe.com