Church's chili cookoff has recipes for success

By BOB JACKSON

news@vindy.com

BOARDMAN

For two hours Sunday afternoon, the fellowship hall of Boardman United Methodist Church was turned into a soup kitchen of sorts.

The church, 6809 Market St., had its eighth annual Sue Hernan Memorial Chili Cookoff, where nearly 200 people turned out to sample the wares of 20 entrants who vied for the blue ribbon. Or in this case, it was a white apron.

Cathy Pokrivnak, the event coordinator, said about $1,300 was raised between proceeds from the cookoff and a bake sale. The money will go toward helping church youths attend summer camps, she said.

The church started having the chili cookoff several years ago, spearheaded by former member Sue Hernan, who drowned in August 2010 while trying to rescue two of her grandchildren in Berlin Lake. She was 51 years old. Since then, the event has taken place in her honor, Pokrivnak said.

“It’s heartwarming,” said Hernan’s husband, Don. “It’s so nice to see that people still remember her and appreciate what she stood for.”

The first-place winners in the Judges’ Choice and People’s Choice categories received chef’s aprons declaring them winners of the cookoff.

Framed certificates were given to the second- and third-place Judges’ Choice winners and to the entrant whose chili was deemed “Most Unique.”

The Rev. Jerry Krueger said the cookoff has a dual purpose of raising money to help church youths attend camps, as well as attracting people to the church.

“It’s a low-pressure outreach,” the Rev. Mr. Krueger said. “People drive the street and say, ‘Oh, there’s a red brick building.’ They don’t even know it’s a church. This is a way to get them through the doors.”

In the beginning, proceeds from the chili cookoff went toward missions trips to Mexico and assisting with relief projects after Hurricane Katrina in 2005. A few years ago, the focus shifted, though, to helping the church’s youths, Mr. Krueger said.

He said camping scholarships are open to any youths in the community, but they have to attend one of three camp facilities in the United Methodist East Ohio Conference. Pokrivnak said there are lots of camping themes from which to choose, such as clown camp or horseback camp.

She said a camp in Lakeside, which is near Sandusky, is actually run by older youths and is aimed and building leadership and teamwork skills. Campers elect people from within their ranks to handle planning for the following year.

“It’s a camp for the youths, led by the youths,” Pokrivnak said. “Every teen that’s gone there has told me it was a week without peer pressure.”

Her granddaughter, 18-year-old Morgan Baytos of Canfield, is on the planning committee this year.

“It’s kind of changed our look at the whole world, really,” Baytos said. “It changes your whole way of thinking, completely.”

Being part of all the planning is an empowering feeling, she said.

“We can change whatever we want. We can do whatever we want for the entire week,” she said.