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More than 500 Tennessee Tech University community members came together last week to eat as much chili as they could for a good cause. Together, they contributed more than $1,300 for the university s on-campus food pantry, which provides aid to students and others on campus. The chili they feasted on was provided by nearly 20 teams, almost all employees or students at the university. This is just to get people doing something so we can give back to campus, said Suzann Hensley, assistant director of Tennessee Tech Campus Recreation and cook team organizer for Tennessee Tech s Heating up the Quad and Cookeville s Cooking on the Square. The cook-off is the fun aspect of it, and a chance for Tech people to come together in an informal way to catch up on something besides business. This is the second time the university s provost s office has sponsored the event, which is part of a larger initiative, Tech Togetherness, to bring faculty and staff together on campus. The food pantry will keep the money in reserves to purchase and replenish supplies as needed. At the end of the first half of the two-hour event several of the 19 cook teams were out of chili and more than double the number of students had been through the line than the first year. Everybody does this out of the goodness of their hearts, Hensley said. I expected it to grow, but I didn t expect this. Eighteen groups from the university contributed a wide variety of vegan, vegetarian and regular chili; soups; and desserts with names like Howlin Hillbilly ham, bean and greens soup; and bomb diggity Boston butt chili. Judges determined winners in each category; the prizes were small trophies and bragging rights until next year. In the South, nothing brings family and friends together more often than food and bringing people together is what the Tech Togetherness initiative is all about, Hensley said. The quad is the perfect setting for this gathering. Mother Nature has been kind to us and departments have been very excited about cooking and being a part of this. |