Mark your calendar for Saturday!

Broadway Street, along the Natchez Bluff, will fill up with competing teams of chili cookers vying for bragging rights from both the Judges’ Choice and the People’s Choice awards.

A prize also will be given for the best decorated booth.

Tasting kits are $5, and there will be homemade root beer floats, signature chili bowls by local potter Tom Hughes, face painting, a children’s blow up slide, and a silent auction including a stay at a Victorian Chalet in Gatlinburg, a Homer, Alaska four-bedroom cabin and much, much more.

All proceeds will benefit the Natchez Children’s Services. In 1816, the Female Charitable Society cared for orphaned children in the Mississippi territory.

In 2018, through partnerships and collaborations, Natchez Children’s Services is a bustling center for children in five southwest Mississippi counties who have been the victims of felony child abuse: sexual, physical or emotional, or who have witnessed a crime or domestic violence.

The Natchez Children’s Services Children’s Advocacy Center (CAC) uses a multi-disciplinary approach to investigate abuse by providing recorded forensic interviews of young victims in a child-friendly setting.

A victim advocate is assigned to each child, and family, trauma-focused therapy is offered, necessary resources are accessed, and court preparation and child abuse prevention programs and education are taught to children and adults. Over 300 forensic interviews of children from age 3 to 18 have been conducted since the CAC opened.

The Rotary Club of Natchez gladly organizes this wonderful event in our quest to fulfill the Rotary motto, “Service above self.”

Our 120 member club is one of 35,000 Rotary Clubs worldwide. Rotary International is 1.2 million neighbors, friends and community leaders who come together to promote peace, fight disease, provide clean water, save mothers and children, support education and grow local economies.

The Natchez Rotary Club has hosted the annual chili cook-off for the last eight years, raising thousands of dollars to ensure no cost services for the children and families who so desperately need Natchez Children’s Services.

It is not too late to enter a team, support with a sponsorship or offer an item for auction. Plan to join in the chili-tasting fun beginning at 11 a.m. on the beautiful Natchez Bluff behind the Natchez Grand Hotel.

For more information, call Natchez Children’s Services at 601-431-2598.

Thank you for making this a fun and profitable annual event.

Shannon Parker is 2018-19 President of the Rotary Club of Natchez.