Norwin chili cookoff goes virtual

Like so many activities the past 11 months, the popular Norwin Rotary Chili Cookoff & Wing Things that raises money to give nutritious food to needy students at Norwin’s Sheridan Terrace Elementary school, is going virtual this year, organizers said.

“Wearing masks, social distancing and crowd limitation guidelines to keep everybody safe, however, makes our usual (Chili) Cookoff format unworkable during the pandemic,” said William F. Caruthers III of Irwin, the Norwin Rotary officer in charge of the event.

It made more sense to give $15 gift cards to the schools to distribute to needy students to redeem at Aldi grocery store in Norwin Hills Plaza along Route 30 in North Huntingdon, rather than fill a backpack with food, Caruthers said. Half of the elementary school students are not in class Fridays because the hybrid form of instruction puts students in class just two days a week.

“It makes it impractical to fill and deliver the backpacks to the children at the end of each week,” Caruthers said.

So, 39 students — 25% more than last school year — will get a gift card, rather than a backpack of food, for 31 weeks, Caruthers said. The cost of the gift card is about the same as paying for food the club previously purchased, Caruthers said.

Supporters have the opportunity to sponsor a child at a cost of $15 per week.

The money is raised by supporters pledging donations for posting photos of the chili and wings people make during March, onto the Rotary’s Chili Cookoff and Wing Thing Facebook page. Posting the cook’s recipes, commenting and family and friends who are taste testing, are acceptable as well as anyone who posts a “Like” to the photos or recipes.

Caruthers said the club is designing a donation button on the page and on the Norwin Rotary Club webpage at: norwinrotary.com.

Another departure from tradition of the past 10 years is the club will not present trophies to the winners, as voted on by those who have tasted the chili and wings, Caruthers said.