Chili and soup events raise funds for church, community

Kay Hruby, left, and Vicki Marsh work together to serve chili at the third annual CHILIfest, held at the Christ Episcopal Church in West River Saturday. The event raised funds for the South County Faith Network, a coalition of 13 south county churches that provides south county neighbors with a variety of charitable services. Photo by Mitchelle Stephenson — For The Capital

By MITCHELLE STEPHENSON, For The Capital

Published in the Capital February 05, 2009

Two events last weekend helped raise funds for two charities that do great work for our south county friends and neighbors.

First, the CHILI-fest, held at Christ Episcopal Church on Owensville Road in West River, benefited the South County Faith Network. The other event was a SOUPer Bowl party, where residents of the Deale Beach Citizens Association served up homemade soup in a contest and fundraiser to help offset the costs for upgrading their boat ramp and dredging the area from the ramp into Carr's Creek.

At both events, County Executive John Leopold made a visit, sampling the chili and soups and introducing himself to constituents. At the SOUPer Bowl, he voted by secret ballot for his favorite soup. David Harris was the winner with his Oyster Stew.

The CHILIFest has been an annual fundraiser for three years. Volunteers prepare five chilis: basic red, sausage and beef, spicy beef, white bean with chicken, and pumpkin and black bean vegetarian. The group typically makes as much as $1,500 at the event.

That money goes to a variety of services that the South County Faith Network provides, including caregiver relief, grocery shopping, transportation to church and functions, home repair, light housekeeping, and more.

Pete Ball is president of SCFN, a coalition of 13 churches south of the South River. The churches are all denominations, Protestant, Catholic, historically black, and predominantly white.

Pete said that one of the big initiatives of the organization is to help south county residents who need handicap upgrades to their home. "Our volunteers install handicap ramps," he said. He explained that the Anne Arundel County Department of Aging refers clients to SCFN. If the homeowner can afford the cost of the materials, the network provides the labor. If the homeowner cannot afford the materials, the group then works to provide both the labor and the materials.

At the event, Vicki Marsh from Cedar Grove United Methodist Church in Deale and Kay Hruby from Christ Episcopal were working the service line.

"I think they do a terrific job," Kay said of the South County Faith Network. "They build ramps and do a lot of good stuff."

Andrew Poulin, 2-year-old grandson of Bea Poulin, an aide to the county executive, had a hearty helping of the red chili. "It was good," he said as his grandmother bundled him up before he went off to Shady Side for a haircut.

At the SOUPer Bowl party, held in the Deale Beach Community Hall, there were 14 entrants, vying for bragging rights as the neighborhood's top soup chef.

Sharon Mauck made a hearty chicken noodle soup. She not only provided the main ingredients, she had an interesting write-up for tasters. "Go to the barnyard and catch a willing chicken. Give him a nice hot bath…" she wrote.

Donna Rhodes, a dietician at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, made a barley and lentil soup that had no fat, bacon grease or excess salt. "Eating this soup will be good for you… and it tastes good too," she announced on her entry.

The community is hoping to raise upwards of $30,000 through a variety of fundraisers to repair their community boat ramp and to dredge out the ramp to meet the channel in Carr's Creek.

In the 1950s and 1960s, the residents of Deale Beach were able to utilize the creek with just about any kind of boat. But over the years it has filled in to the point where it is barely navigable for even a kayak. And that is only at high tide.

Lisa Moore represents the community on the Anne Arundel Waterway Restoration Alliance. She has been working on the issue for years. "We have been on the list to be dredged for 25 years," Lisa said. She was excited to report that this coming October the work will finally get under way.

"We got a 50-50 grant," she said, explaining that the $2 million necessary for the dredging came from a 50 percent combination of state and county funds.

While the company that the state and county grants hire will pay for dredging the channel, any shoreline dredging, like the boat ramp dredging, is not covered.

Peter Tango, the Deale association president, said they were hopeful that the event could push them closer to their goal by raising around $1,000. It cost just $5 to get in; but they were also taking donations. They have been raising funds through events like this for years, and while Peter didn't know the exact amount, he thought they were edging closer to their goal.

The group gathered around the bubbling crockpots of soup were excited that the community's four miles of shoreline would finally allow residents to utilize their waterfront property. And, as early as next summer - the dredging project should begin in October of 2009 and be completed sometime in 2010.