Some good-natured competition between the director of Ionia County Community Mental Health and a CMH staff person was channeled into a chili cook-off Thursday to benefit the Ionia County Council for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect (ICAN).
CMH Director Bob Lathers and social worker Amy McGowan have had a rivalry "for a number of years" about their recipes, said Katie Magnuson, a staff member who helped organize the event. "Bob was talking smack all the time about who had the better chili."
Magnuson and co-worker Diana Osipsov decided that, since ICAN's funding had been cut, they would roll a fundraiser, the chili cook-off and a staff lunch into one.
Fifteen CMH employees, including Lathers, paid $5 to enter their chili in the cook-off, which was sampled by a panel of celebrity judges and most of the 80 CMH staff, who bought as many tickets as they wanted for $1 each to vote for their favorites.
Entries ranged from beef to chicken to venison to vegetarian – and even a chocolate chili.
Two awards were given – the Judges' Favorite and the Most Popular – and both went to the same chef: Nichol Bremer for her white chicken chili. Although she refused to disclose her recipe because it is "ridiculously simple," she said, she did admit that her special ingredient is "lots of cheese."
Bremer's chili scored 90 points with the judges, who included Ionia County Sheriff's Office Jail Administrator Mark Jones, physician Rose Hunter from the Sparrow Ionia Hospital Tony Balice Clinic, Ionia County Probate Court Judge Bob Sykes, attorney Walt Downes and Terese Gainer from the Department of Human Services; and helped raise $363.
"It's very exciting, and an awesome fun way to raise money for ICAN," said Magnuson after the final count.
Even though Lathers did not win the cook-off, in spite of allegedly donating "a lot of money to ICAN trying to win," said one source, he was philosophical.
"We all win – it builds staff morale and raises money for ICAN," Lathers said, adding that he hopes the event expands next year to include even more human services providers.
Sykes thanked CMH for organizing the event to raise "much needed funds" for ICAN.
"It was a wonderful example of how well we collaborate in Ionia County," he said. "The event was attended and judged by employees, not only from CMH, but from the Department of Human Services, Ionia County Sheriff's Office, Sparrow Hospital and the Ionia County Juvenile Court. It was a fun way for our agencies to interact, and it benefited the children of our county."