Saturday will see Broadway Street along the Natchez bluff fill up with competing teams of chili cookers vying for bragging rights from both The Judges’ Choice and the People’s Choice awards. Prizes will also be given for the best decorated booth and the best Halloween costume worn by children 10 years and younger.

Tasting kits are $5, and there will be homemade root-beer floats, signature chili bowls by local potter Tom Hughes, craft beer, face painting, a children’s slide, and a silent auction which includes an Angels on the Bluff weekend package at Monmouth, a four-day stay at a mountain chalet in Gatlinburg, a box of Cohiba cigars, Greg Iles signed first-edition books, Thanksgiving dinner for 12, a two-night stay at the Chateau Saint Denis in Natchitoches, La, weekends at Weymouth Hall and the Mellen House, gift certificates to local restaurants, children’s toys, vintage dolls and much more!

All proceeds will honor the 200th anniversary of Natchez Children’s Services. In 1816, the Female Charitable Society cared for orphaned children in the Mississippi territory. In 2016, through partnerships and collaboratives, 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. More than 200 forensic interviews of children from age 3 to 18 have been conducted since the CAC opened.

Entering now is The Rotary Club of Natchez. Our 120 member club is one of 35,000 Rotary Clubs worldwide whose motto is “Service Above Self.” 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 five years, raising thousands of dollars to ensure no-cost services for the children and families who so desperately need help and healing. Home Bank is this year’s major sponsor, and it is not too late to enter a team, buy a sponsorship, offer an item for auction, or plan to celebrate Halloween in costume beginning at 11 a.m. on the bluff behind the Grand Hotel.

For more information, call or email Doug Wimberly at 601-660-4671 or dwimberly@jksllc.com, or go to ntzchs.org to download rules and applications.

Thank you for making the equation fun and profitable!
Forrest Johnson is president of the Rotary Club of Natchez and a member of the Board of Directors of Natchez Children’s Services.