JERSEY - The Jerseyville Rotary Club has been a lifesaver for its community over the years.
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Each year, one of the top fund-raising events for the Rotary is the Annual Chili Supper at the Knights of Columbus Hall earlier this month. Again, the Chili event was a key fund-raiser for Rotary's upcoming projects.
Jerseyville Rotary Club President Whitney McIver said the chili supper started as a spaghetti event then changed to chili.
“I am very happy with the turnout and it is our very biggest fundraiser and important we do well,” she said. “We support a variety of community organizations. We do a Character Counts Grant at the middle school and give small grants to different activities. Last year did $300 in total. We try to sponsor an exchange student. We have the Drug Drop Off Box at Sheriff’s Office and hope to do more.
"This fall, we got a grant from Rotary International to plant 40 trees at a local lake. We also do a program every year give out dictionaries to Jersey, most of Greene and Calhoun to third graders. We are welcoming new members, not a club you have to be invited. If you want to join and help out definitely looking for higher numbers. We have lunch on most Mondays We are going to help out more with food pantries and Salvation Army and get a trash cleanup going among other things.”
Charlie Huebner, also the Jersey Circuit Clerk, and a Rotary member, said the chili recipe was given to the Rotary by Mary Brightweiser. “We were talking about what kind of recipe to use and she said she thought she had a recipe they could use and the feedback was very positive, so for 20 years, we have kept it.
“We usually come in the day before and start cooking and set things up and make sure everything is in its place, the morning off come in early and are ready to serve before 11," he said. "We do vegetable soup as well, one of our club members put the vegetable soup together. We try to do 100 gallons of soup and chili on our event here, very little is left over. We serve hot dogs as a sandwich to go with it and have a choice of cookies for a sweet tooth. We want people to go away full and satisfied.”
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