Resource centres cook-off for Campus Food Bank

Centres compete for best chili, raise money for charity, and grow awareness

By Jessie Small

Food has the reputation of bringing people together, and it did just that at the Students Older Than Average (SOTA) first annual Chili Cook-Off held last Tuesday, Nov. 29, in the Loft (UC3013).

The cook-off brought together three of the resource centres located in the University Centre—SOTA, LBGT-MUN, and the Women's Resource Centre—to compete for the coveted prize of bragging rights for the centre who could make the best chili.

Proceeds from the event went to the Campus Food Bank, with an estimated 30 students giving a five dollar donation to try out any chili they wished. This allowed them to sample the four different varieties of chili and vote for their favourite one.

According to Chris Walsh, president of SOTA, his group decided to organize the event as a way to bring all walks of students together in partnership with the other resource centres, to help bring light to the types of services they offer.

“We've always noticed that none of the resource centres ever really pull off anything together, and we thought it would be great advertising for the resource centres,” he said.

“It would fill the resource centres mandate to give back to the University community and plus it would just be a lot of fun.”

Aside from helping a worthy charity and giving back to the campus, SOTA also wanted to organize the event as a way to raise awareness.

“A lot of people don't even know that there are so many different resource centres on the sixth floor,” said Carina Trasmundi, vice president of SOTA.

Any student older than 21 can become a member of SOTA and have access to free printing, fax services, emergency contact services, a fridge, microwave, and toaster, as well as complimentary coffee, tea, and hot chocolate says Robert Goguen, SOTA’s communications director.

He also said that SOTA is “one of the most active resource centres up there—our office is always open and we have a lot of people going in and out.”

They try to plan at least one event per month, with plans underway for a December Christmas party next month, and a Soup Cook-Off for some time in March.

As of the deadline for this issue the winner of the cook-off had not been announced. For more information, search “Students Older Than Average @ MUN” on Facebook. For information on other resource centres at MUN, visit munsu.ca.

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