Annual Barbecue raises funds for victims, programs

Two thousand pounds of barbecue for a good cause?

Locals didn't have to look any further than the big white tent at the University Mall parking lot this weekend.

The Kiwanis Club of Chapel Hill-Carrboro hosted its 18th-annual barbecue cook-off fundraiser from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday.

For the $7 ticket price, patrons could help themselves to fresh barbecue, hush puppies and coleslaw, available for dine-in or take-out.

"People tell us that it's better than what they could get in a restaurant," said Megan Burnham, the Kiwanis membership and publicity officer as well as adviser to the UNC Circle K Club, who manned the ticket counter Saturday afternoon.

Burnham said Kiwanis hopes to raise between $5,000 and $10,000 through the event.

Fifty percent of the proceeds will go to the Kiwanis International relief fund, which will be sent to aid victims of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

The other 50 percent will go directly into Kiwanis-sponsored programs, such as the Terrific Kids program, the Victory Junction Gang Camp, UNC Circle K, Chapel Hill and East Chapel Hill high schools' key clubs, an iodine deficiency elimination program and emergency community funding.

"(The barbecue) is very good, it's very tasty," said patron Valerie McFalls of Cary.

"It's nice that they have it outside, it's something different."

Jordan Dalton, 7, and his brother Jack, 8, from Pittsboro, couldn't quite put the deliciousness of it all into words, but they didn't have to - two thumbs up worked quite well.

The annual tradition also marked a time of transition as the Kiwanis get ready to welcome a new president.

Annie Purfield, the chapter's incoming president, will be the youngest person as well as the first woman to assume the role of Kiwanis president of the Chapel Hill-Carrboro chapter.

"I'm nervous, most of the members have been in the club a long time," she said.

But Purfield also said she wants people to realize that Kiwanis is changing.

"For the new face of the changing world, we are trying to make Kiwanis a club for everyone like students, professionals, retired people, everyone."

 

Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.