Chili cooks compete in Carson City on behalf of veterans
Two dozen competitive chili cooks armed with ladels and their top-secret recipes stormed the front lawn of Glen Eagles Restaurant Saturday morning to tempt the palates of guests attending the annual High Sierra and Nevada Capitol Regional Chili Cook Off.
A key annual fundraising benefit for Honor Flight Nevada, the chili competition draws award-winning chili cooks from clear across the country.
Honor Flight founder Jon Yuspa said the 24 entries in this year's chili cook-off qualify it as an officially sanctioned competition of the International Chili Society. The minimum number of entries, he said, to qualify as a sanctioned competition is 20.
"The winner gets to move up to regionals and then nationals," Yuspa said.
Honor Flight Nevada is a Northern Nevada-based 501(c)3 registered non-profit that raises money to send military veterans to Washington, D.C., where they can visit the monuments dedicated to their service in well-deserved first-class VIP style.
Yuspa said each fundraiser like the chili cook-off is important to his organization because 100 percent of all proceeds raised go directly to the costs of flying each veteran back east to the nation's capital.
"All of the money from the chili testing kits goes to Honor Flight. Everything here is to benefit Honor Flight," he said. "This is important for our fundraising."
Yuspa said the average flight cost per veteran is around a thousand dollars. The annual High Sierra and Nevada Capitol Regional Chili Cook Off typically raises enough funds to send 2-3 veterans back east to Washington, he said.
"That covers 100 percent of everything," Yuspa said. "We have no overhead, no offices, no staff, so 100 percent of our donations go into the program. It's the best Christmas gift you'll ever give."
For area military veterans, the annual chili cook-off held at Glen Eagles is more than a fundraiser for their service brothers and sisters. It's also a reunion for old friends.
"You can see all of this natural camaraderie among the veterans," Yuspa said. "It's more of a social than it is even a fundraiser. This is Carson City at its finest."
The chili cook off at Glen Eagles is a two-day event, beginning at 11 a.m. Saturday and runs until 5 p.m. this afternoon. It then starts up again Sunday at 11 a.m. and finishes up at 5 p.m. tomorrow.
Besides the two dozen chili entries, the cook-off event also features craft vendors whose retail space costs also go to support the efforts of Honor Flight Nevada.
Chili tasting kits cost $5 per kit and include five tasting cups.
For more information about Honor Flight Nevada and how to donate, visit its web site here or find it on Facebook here.
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