August 28, 2023 • 27 mins
The Alex Smith Foundation is hosting Alex’s Chili Cook-Off on Sunday, September 24, from one ‘til four at Greystone Brew House in Dillsburg. The event features a competition between the best of the best area chefs, lots of food and loads of fun. Proceeds go toward culinary scholarships which honor the memory of Alex W. Smith, a graduate of HACC’s Culinary Program prior to his tragic passing in 2018.
https://www.alexwsmithfoundation.org/alexs-chili-cook-off/
https://www.alexwsmithfoundation.org/alexs-chili-cook-off/
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Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
Hi, I'm Sylvia Moss. Thisis in Sight, a presentation of iHeartMedia
or we really do care about ourlook of communities and all our listeners who
live here. Somebody once said,when a child is born, it's the
mother's instinct to protect the baby.When a child dies, it's the mother's
instinct to protect the memory that certainlyholds true no matter what age your child
(00:21):
dies. From the people that I'vespoken to have lost their children over the
years, there's nothing more horrible.It's something that you never get over.
You do your best to try tosomehow live with it every single day.
Some families who have known I havetaken the unimaginable grief and focus it upon
doing something good to benefit others whilehonoring the member of their lost child.
(00:44):
Terry Smith and Ashley Smith are withus today. Terry's mom, Ashley,
is a sister to our who werehonoring today. They're here to talk about
the loss of their son and brother, Alex Smith, back in twenty eighteen.
And although as I said, they'llnever get over the loss, they
have some how managed to turn theirgriefing to an inventor. Alex. I'm
sure, I'm sure Alex would bethrilled by it's been what six years?
(01:07):
Six five years? What is this? Oh it's twenty twenty three. Forgive
me, I'm in my own world. Anyway, five years. Girls,
Please, at any point just jumpin. Tell me what happened with Alex
and why. Anybody that I've talkedto have told me that he was a
great, big teddy bear. SoAlex, you know, he was the
(01:30):
life of the party. He's mybrother. He was so fun full of
love. I mean, you know, if you were having a bad day,
he would make your day. He'dmake you smile. So it has
been about five years now. Alexpassed away in a car accident. And
while he was here, he wasin he worked as a chef and he
(01:56):
was just getting started. He lovedit. And so what we did through
the foundation, the Alex W.Smith Foundation, is we have a chili
cook off every year to honor hismemory, something that he enjoyed doing,
bringing people together with food, butalso to raise money for a scholarship.
I'd like to talk more about himhimself. So I when you told me
(02:16):
that when I met you a fewyears ago, and you told me it
was all about food. It wasgetting people together for food. It kind
of reminded me and my sister inlaw when I go home and come on
in and have a cup of coffee. I got pie here. I have
this right. He just wanted everybodyto be involved and to talk and to
love surrounded by food. And Ican't imagine the whole that that's left in
(02:40):
your family. And as I said, you never really get over that.
He was also involved in the churchtoo, right, tell us about that,
Alex. I work. I'm atthe Word of Grace Ministries and we
do the children's ministry. So Alexwas involved a lot with me and the
children's ministry and the youth ministry.And he was just a big, fun
(03:01):
loving guy. You know, heloved people, He loved kids, and
I think that his joy. Peoplejust miss that, miss that fun loving,
big loving guy, like a bigteddy bear. That's what we called
him. And and and that's billedover into his you know, into the
(03:21):
chef. He loved doing that.That's just because he loved the cook.
He wanted people to people around him. Sure, sure food And think about
it. Think about when you're duringthe holidays, when you go home or
from out of town or wedding,you go home for Thanksgiving, it's the
anticipation of being with everybody and laughingand crying and making fun of everybody.
Righting. That sounds like Alex tellus about the event you started a couple
(03:44):
of years ago. It was wasit your brother? I think which brother
of beers came up the idea abouthaving a jelly cook off? Did I
read that somewhere? Yes, itit started with you know, after the
accident, after the funeral, youknow, I was just really sad.
Yeah, you know, my brothersaid, Terry, why don't you have
a chili cook off? And Iwas like, that's it, That's what
I want to do. So itwas like right at the beginning, I
(04:08):
wanted to do this not just tohonor Alex to remember him, but to
help kids, because that's what hedid. He loved helping kids with scholarships.
And so I called a few people. Are his chef from Hack helped
us get this started, and ofcourse at Graystone they opened up their doors
(04:32):
and so they really got us onthe ball of what to do to have
a chili cook off, and it'stook off ever since and it's wonderful.
The last time he were here.I think of his uncle Troy. He's
a real piece of work. Hewas probably a lot like Alex. He
was funny and you know, teasesand everything, and he used to tell
(04:53):
us about the what about stories aboutAlex Mohney was growing up, the funny
stuff that happened. Is he stillinvolved in event? I guess your whole
family is pretty much involved, right. Oh? Yes, we have every
one of the one of my siblingsand of course the cousins and my nephews
are all involved. They all havesome job. Of course, Troy is
our security and I can't see that. Okay, this is what year for
(05:17):
the chili cook off. This willbe the fourth year I thought we're having
okay, And when you first wentto put this together, was it difficult
for you? I honestly I feltlike we were going to just do it
at my church and have a little, you know, chili cook off.
But just the right people came intoplay, you know, like I said,
(05:38):
the chef from from Hack and shewas just bringing in all these chefs
from the area and I'm like,wow, this is great. And then
we had a facility at Graystone tohave it at. So it was something
bigger than what I ever thought.I just thought we were going to have
something little. It turned out tobe this beautiful event. You know,
a couple hundred people, wasn't it? It was Wow? Nobody does and
(06:00):
yeah, I know, just mestarting it, and you know, I
just had the right people coming inand wanting to sport this event. And
of course a lot of the chefsthat are in the cook off are people
that have worked with Alex or wentto school with him at HACKS. So
it's really kind of cool to seeall these people coming together for one cost
(06:21):
to remember Alex and really just ascholarship students scholarship and what do those scholarship
to qualifies for those or how doyou go about qualifying for a scholarship and
what type of scholarship is it?Sure? Right now we have we have
a culinary and we have a sportsscholarship because Alex was involved in sports as
well, and it's open to CentralDolphin East students and it's open to Dolphin
(06:46):
County Technical School students in the culinary. So this year we were just so
excited. We had eight scholarships thatwe gave out. It was amazing and
it's like I feel like we justa little piece of Alex to each of
these students that as they take them, they're so appreciative and it's just a
beautiful time. And we want togrow. We want to grow scholarships and
(07:12):
really I'd like to move forward andget hack scholarships and just a lot of
these kids that are are out there, you know, need a little help,
and they'll get a little help fromAlex. How do the kids like,
do they have to write an essayor what them okay? And what's
that about? We have and everything'sonline and when you know, it's open
like in January for both of thoseschools, and yes, they have to
(07:34):
write an essay of how this hashelped them develop as a child, you
know, whether it's sports or whetherit's culinary, how's this impacted their life?
And so they write these scholarships andthe board and I we sit down
and we pick out the individuals thatwe feel most met the qualifications of you
(07:54):
know, of Alex, living andloving like Alex. You know, why
why did you get into this andwhat do you want to do in your
future? And it gives I wouldimagine the kids would apply. Gets somebody
know who Alex, was they do. That's inspiring, as you're be gonna
say something. Yeah. Something thatI just really enjoy is as we're going
through the scholarships each year is hearingthe hearing the examples of what some of
(08:20):
the students are writing. You know, they're giving examples of how how either
sports or culinary has changed their lifeso far and what they look forward to
doing in the future, or howthey use the scholarship. So I think
hearing those meaningful connections just makes iteven more of a point for us,
(08:43):
just knowing that it's impacting the studentsand the community. Yeah, it's coming
from here, It's coming from downinside who they are, just like Alex,
right, which is I would imagineit's awesome for you guys. Now,
you started this out at a grayStone on Legals Town Road, but
you had a movie because it gottoo big, right, that's right.
Wow, I heard that and thatwas big at the time. So it
(09:05):
was big. Would you mind againtelling us where and when? It is?
Sure? And now we're having itat the new location and that's gray
Stone Brewhouse and that's in Dyllsburg.So we're real excited because it's a it's
a huge pavilion. But not justthat, we have, you know,
lots of grass areas. So we'regonna have lots of games and we're gonna
have fun, fun for the kids. We're even having punkin painting. But
(09:28):
it's a gray Stone brew House andit's three oh three Golf Club Avenue in
Dyllsburg. Okay, So and it'sone to four that we're gonna have them,
and you know, they can gettheir tickets online and oh and it's
September twenty four from one to fourtimes. Okay. The focus of the
(09:50):
whole thing is the chili. Iwas amazed. It seems like every year
when you guys come back to talkabout this, somebody's made this. Really
forgive me, but be tasting chiliyou'd never think taste about, like like
the chocolate chili. Who's going tobe there? Now? This is a
competition and it's the with amateur chefsand professional chefs. But tell us who's
(10:11):
going to be there as far asthe people representing professional chefs right, well,
we have a total of fifteen chefsso far, and we'd like to
get a couple more on so it'sstill open. We have eight professional chefs
now, we have Graystone Brewhouse whohas a secret recipe, but I'm telling
(10:33):
you it sounds fabulous. We'll beposting that after our Good Day PA segment
because he'll be making it on there. But we have, of course,
we have the Chocolate Tier, whichthey're they're doing a chocolate beef chili.
We have a chicken chili. Wehave Devon Seafood and Steak, and we
have cis at Cisco and the jj DK group. So there's a whole
(10:54):
bunch of professionals that we're having.But we also have some special amateur chefs.
Yeah, they are special, They'revery special. One of our special
chefs are Renewed by Anderson. Godbless Renewal by Anderson. They have exploded
in this area as far as theirphilanthropy. They are so very, very
(11:16):
generous. Every time you turn aroundthere's Nancy Ryan and Linda Johnston from Reno
by Anderson. Are they the ones? Yes, they are, and they're
gonna whip up a fabulous chili recipe. So we're really excited. We don't
have the name of that one either, but we're excited. Renew by Anderson.
You know, they continue to supportus. They supported us last year
(11:39):
as a sponsor and this year they'rethey're a top sponsors, so we're just
very appreciative to renew by Anderson andLinda Johnston. That's amazing. Okay,
who else is going to be thereamong the people from that are amateur chefs?
You have who else? Oh?We have well, we have hack
culinary arts programs, so that's wonderful, and we have Dolphin County Tech School
(12:01):
and we have someone from our Wordof Grace Ministries that will be whipping up
something as well, so it'll begood. And we will be posting the
names of all the chilis on ourwebsite and on our Facebook page, but
we don't have them all now,but it is a wide assortment of chilies
that you can sample. Okay,now, be honest, nobody's gonna get
(12:24):
bad. Over the years, there'sbeen so many different types of chilis that's
your favorite? Seriously, there wasone. There was some really good ones
in the last couple of years.And but I did. I loved the
chocolate. I knew it. Iknew it. I love different flavors,
so having you know, chocolate chiliit was. It sounded different, but
(12:48):
I loved it and so there's plentyof other ones too. I loved all
of them, but that one reallystood out. O your mom, right,
I think you know me? Imy brother last year. Now he's
not in the he won't be cookingthis year. Last year he did do
a seafood chili and with a littleside of ice cream, so you know,
(13:11):
maybe he's my brother, but heThat was one of my favorites.
Of course, you know, allof them are very good. They're just
interesting. You know. They justput unique things in the chili that you
never would think would work together.When you try it, it's like,
wow, this is awesome. Soyou know, everybody has their own variety,
and I really think they're They wereall good to me. They were
(13:31):
all different versions of chili. Okay, tickets, how do you get tickets?
Well, you can get tickets onlinenow right now we have well we
have tickets are online at Alex W. Smith Foundation dot org and we have
tickets at twenty dollars per person.We have children's tickets and we have family
(13:54):
packages, so they can get thoseonline. They can get those at the
door. Were the day of theevent, so they're available and you always
surprising me. This tells you.I don't have a life. I stopped
somewhere recently and got breakfast, andthere was something simple last time I I
it was an omelet with whatever yougive ant. And when I looked at
the price and I saw fifteen bucksfor an omelet, unbelievable. And that's
(14:20):
the way it is. The priceshave gone up. But what you're offering,
it's gonna feed the whole family.Wait, it's I mean, way
way cheaper, and it's a wonderfulcause and give a lot of Tom's and
stuff like that. I'm just like, I just think, I'm sure somebody's
thinking some pretty hot stuff. I'mright, I'm sure that's a good idea.
(14:41):
Thank you, Yes, yes,that would be mere. I do
it? Okay, who decides thewinner? And how is the winner decided
upon? Sure, when they whenthey purchased their tickets, they get five
voting tickets. Okay, So theygo around and they decide they have five
chances to vote on their favorite chefchef, And when we wind it up
(15:03):
at about three thirty, we countup those tickets. So it's a people's
vote. So whoever votes for whatis the best chili? Then we have
first, second, and third inprofessional and first second third in the amateurs.
Well this year. So has anLamon repeated a win over the years,
do you know or is that somebodydifferent every year? Do you think
(15:24):
it? I think did the personwith a chocolate one one year? Oh
my gosh, I would remember,Oh we had one. I think it
was this was the gal that wentto school with Alex at the Hilton ad
Lib kitchen craft she won twice inthird third place. I think, so
two third places each year in therow. But that's the only one because
(15:46):
everybody comes in and they come inwith a different version every year, and
it really is up to whoever's votingof which one that's right. And as
she said, you moved it overto the West Shore because you needed more
space. What about rain, rainor shine? Will you be there rainershein
absolutely. We the pavilion holds fourhundred people, so and of course we
(16:10):
have tents and we have pop uptents. So a rain or shine we're
gonna have it. But it's goingto be a beautiful day. We already
put the request in Okay to Alexup. I don't think of me.
I was thinking maybe Tom Russell,our buddy Tom, because he's amazing.
He's really involved in everything in town. Guys, I wanted to ask you
too, what do you need atthis point? Do you need volunteers and
(16:33):
if so, what do you needthem for? What must what do they
have to do? Well, witha larger venue comes a much bigger need,
and so what we really could usesome support on is some extra hands,
volunteering for our security team, volunteeringfor assisting with the pop ups,
(16:56):
putting items up, breaking them down. And you know, the list is
growing as we add more items upuntil the date. So really, if
you are interested and available to volunteer, you can do a few ways.
You can reach us at alex W. Smith Foundation dot org. You can
reach us on any of our socialmedia platforms alex W. Smith Foundation on
(17:22):
on Facebook, Instagram, and youcan also reach us at alex W.
Smith Foundation at gmail dot com.Okay, great now. One of the
things I didn't ask you was,as I mentioned, it's going to be
for the family. Kids don't oftengo for things. It tastes like chilli,
so you have something for them.And what you were just talking about
(17:45):
some of the activities, the music, the kids, the raffles, tell
us about that the silent auction.Wait, well, we have a big
kids area this year. They wehave hot dogs and we have chips,
and we have cookies and drinks.But not only that, we're punkin painting,
face painting, rock painting, Wehave games and it's just gonna be
a whole lot of fun for thekids. Now of course, for the
(18:07):
adults, we have a lot offun too. We have a beer pool,
we have a beer throw, wehave bingo this year. Get out
of here would be great. Andmy brother who was a chef last year
and now heading up the bingo,so it's just gonna be amazing days,
realize that that's great. It'll begreat. And we have a photographer and
(18:29):
we have a prop for photos,so a photo booth, and of course
we have our live band again,so it's just gonna be an amazing day.
We have favors to hand out toeveryone, we have raffles, we
have door prize. We're all excitedlast year about some of those prizes.
We are. We've gotten just atremendous amount of support from our family and
(18:51):
companies around the area. We haveover a hundred people that have donated in
kind donations. Now this will gofor like raffles, even silent raffles,
but also free raffles. You knowof people that will just you know,
they'll be included in that just forpurchasing a ticket. We'll get us all
pumped up. Tell us about someof those prices are going to be given
away. Oh, we have somefabulous prizes. Now, we have the
(19:15):
one the silent auction is from theArmory. The seven ones have an armory.
They're donating a full ship for thewhole year, and that's like a
five hundred and seventy five dollars value. But some of the other prizes are
just like our pizza places and wehave our our olive garden, and we
(19:37):
have baskets, baskets and ice creamand you know, just so many there's
so numerous amounts of people that havedonated this year and they're all going to
go either in the baskets, inthe just regular raffles, or just the
free raffles. So it'll be afabulous day. How many times during the
day, because Alex has been gonea few years and this has been going
on a few years, have peoplecome because they here was a wonderful event.
(20:00):
For a good cause. But didyou find yourself talking to people about
your son and your brother? Oh? Absolutely, This foundation and event it's
all centered around Alex's memory. Andso every time that we're making a plan,
I mean our event it's called Alex'sChili cook Off, And so in
(20:25):
everything that we're doing preparing, we'retalking about him, We're thinking about him.
Yeah, that big picture, Yes, okay, I remember the big
picture. Great. Great, Soyou know, lots of opportunity to talk
about Alex. Take time to reflect, but also see you know how his
memory is now impacting the community andstudents with scholarships. You know, we
(20:48):
all need a purpose in life,and I've often wondered. I've been very
blessed to meet some incredible people overthe last several years. I'm terribly,
terribly sorry. I can't begin totell you how it makes me feel for
the people they've lost their children.But you have to find something. Everybody
needs a purpose. But I betthat Alex is up there celebrating like crazy
(21:11):
and saying, that's my mom,that's my family, that's my sister.
And I think it's a good It'sa I don't want to say a lesson,
but it's something that we all haveto realize how important people are and
that we all need something to Idon't want to say give back, but
make give our life purpose. Andyou guys, I mean, it's amazing,
(21:33):
Terry, what we're gonna say.I was just going to say that.
You know, at the cook Off, there are people that have gone
to school with him or even ifgrace to have worked with him, and
we just got some spectacular interviews withthem of what he meant to them,
and people that still remember him evenafter four years. Oh my god,
remember the things he's done. Andjust to reflect on that and to see
(21:57):
them coming to support us, youknow, it just it just I feel
the love, honestly from people thatare coming. And there's people that don't
even know, they didn't even meetAlex, but yet they're learning about him.
They're learning what a wonderful young manhe was, and they're seeing that
his fruits, even though he's nothere, we are blessing other students because
(22:19):
of that, and so I justfeel like it's just a big circle of
love and we're just flowing it toothers. And so that gives me just
the desire to or the passion Ishould say to continue to do this every
year. I'm glad here you're saying, because I was gonna ask you how
many years you're going continues. You'regonna be an old lady into the vild
this son. I could be,but I definitely want to continue to do
(22:44):
this for a few years and maybewith some of the nephews and nieces,
maybe they could come in and takeover for this. And you know what
else you're doing, you're showing thegiving back as all. I've been pushing
this thing for thirty years about withyoung children, how it makes them feel
to be a part of something likethat, what it does with their self
esteem, and every opportunity. I'malways looking for your opportunity for that.
(23:08):
So that's another thing, as faras volunteering and donating and being sing being
out there as children and seeing theexample that your wonderful son was and somebody
they can try to be like Imean, right, it's it's awesome.
You know, there's like there's ajoy in giving. Like you think you're
losing something when you're giving of yourtime yourself, but really when you're doing
(23:30):
this, there's joy because you knowyou're helping someone and there's something special about
that. And so as we dohave younger people coming in to help us,
they will experience that same joy.Absolutely can't leave without talking about your
sponsors. Tell her who has beenso generous to you? Oh, yes,
well, of course there's loads ofthem, and we have loads of
(23:52):
them. You're right about that.We are. Of course, our top
sponsor is Renewal by Anderson, andwe have Majesty and Masters they have they
have been on board with us sincethe beginning. Of course, we have
some family like my mom Nancy Alhajand we have our Word of Grace ministries.
They're big support, you know,our even our printing get It Now
(24:12):
print and you know M and Tcame in. Of course, we can't
forget about Lucy. She's a beautifullady. And Sherry, she has just
donated a lot of her time,her efforts, her expertise so much in
helping us to form this foundation andjust continues to give us great guidance and
(24:37):
promotions. So she's a wonderful lady. And then, of course I can't
go without saying Jason Viscount, he'sthe one that made this happen at his
facility. And then allowed us tohave it at the brew House and his
staff. You know, they're wonderful. We were planning with him last week
and he's just so helpful, wantingto do whatever he can to make this
(24:57):
a wonderful event. So I mean, and there's so many more, but
we just we just appreciate all oftheir I feel like it's love that they're
just giving and and and in thatgiving, they're going to be blessed too.
So we just appreciate all of them. What do you need at this
point, anything else you need?You need more sponsors? I know you
(25:18):
said you need volunteers. Well wecan only use nor more sponsors, okay,
you know, and that that informationcourses on our website. The more
sponsors we have, the more wecan give more back to students. So
and of course we would help promotetheir business as well and acknowledge them at
the cookoff. So sponsorships are open. We do have a couple more slots
(25:41):
for chefs, so that is openas well. Like like we said,
we could use some hands on helpfor just some tasks of you know,
tense and a little bit of muscles. So anyone that's interested at any point
of that day, if you canhelp, you know, please email us
at our on at our email alexW. Smith Foundation at gmail dot com,
(26:07):
or you can go right onto thatwebsite Alex W. Smith Foundation dot
org and you can message us fromthere. Guys, Terry Ashley Smith,
you guys are such an inspiration.God love you. I mean, Alex,
I didn't have the wasn't lucky enoughto meet him, but I've heard
an awful lot about him over theyears, and he I would love to
have him Ashley as a brother.I mean, he's a fun, loving
(26:30):
guy and supportive and loving and ohgosh, I wish I'm sure he wishes
he could literally wrap his arms aroundboth of you at this time because you've
done incredible things, not only formaking people were of such a wonderful person,
but scholarships and opportunity for families toget out there and do something.
It's pretty much pretty wholesome and funentertainment. You don't see much of that
anymore, so I want to thankyou again. The website address for any
(26:53):
of the things we talked about againtoday is Alex W. Smith Foundation dot
org. And to my listeners,bring your appetites to the best cookoff anywhere
as professional amateur chefs buy for thetitle of the best or the best.
As I said, it's truly afun event for the whole family, with
the proceeds going to the Alex W. Smith Foundation for scholarships to areas students.
(27:15):
Alex Is Chili Cookoff Sunday, Septembertwenty fourth, from one to four
at Graystone Brewhouse in Billsburg and alsocatch Insight when it airs on one of
our iHeart stations or on the iHeartpodcast staff or many other podcast steps.
I'm Sylvia Moss. This has beenthe Insight. Thank you so much for
listening. To see you next week.
Hi, I'm Sylvia Moss. Thisis in Sight, a presentation of iHeartMedia
or we really do care about ourlook of communities and all our listeners who
live here. Somebody once said,when a child is born, it's the
mother's instinct to protect the baby.When a child dies, it's the mother's
instinct to protect the memory that certainlyholds true no matter what age your child
(00:21):
dies. From the people that I'vespoken to have lost their children over the
years, there's nothing more horrible.It's something that you never get over.
You do your best to try tosomehow live with it every single day.
Some families who have known I havetaken the unimaginable grief and focus it upon
doing something good to benefit others whilehonoring the member of their lost child.
(00:44):
Terry Smith and Ashley Smith are withus today. Terry's mom, Ashley,
is a sister to our who werehonoring today. They're here to talk about
the loss of their son and brother, Alex Smith, back in twenty eighteen.
And although as I said, they'llnever get over the loss, they
have some how managed to turn theirgriefing to an inventor. Alex. I'm
sure, I'm sure Alex would bethrilled by it's been what six years?
(01:07):
Six five years? What is this? Oh it's twenty twenty three. Forgive
me, I'm in my own world. Anyway, five years. Girls,
Please, at any point just jumpin. Tell me what happened with Alex
and why. Anybody that I've talkedto have told me that he was a
great, big teddy bear. SoAlex, you know, he was the
(01:30):
life of the party. He's mybrother. He was so fun full of
love. I mean, you know, if you were having a bad day,
he would make your day. He'dmake you smile. So it has
been about five years now. Alexpassed away in a car accident. And
while he was here, he wasin he worked as a chef and he
(01:56):
was just getting started. He lovedit. And so what we did through
the foundation, the Alex W.Smith Foundation, is we have a chili
cook off every year to honor hismemory, something that he enjoyed doing,
bringing people together with food, butalso to raise money for a scholarship.
I'd like to talk more about himhimself. So I when you told me
(02:16):
that when I met you a fewyears ago, and you told me it
was all about food. It wasgetting people together for food. It kind
of reminded me and my sister inlaw when I go home and come on
in and have a cup of coffee. I got pie here. I have
this right. He just wanted everybodyto be involved and to talk and to
love surrounded by food. And Ican't imagine the whole that that's left in
(02:40):
your family. And as I said, you never really get over that.
He was also involved in the churchtoo, right, tell us about that,
Alex. I work. I'm atthe Word of Grace Ministries and we
do the children's ministry. So Alexwas involved a lot with me and the
children's ministry and the youth ministry.And he was just a big, fun
(03:01):
loving guy. You know, heloved people, He loved kids, and
I think that his joy. Peoplejust miss that, miss that fun loving,
big loving guy, like a bigteddy bear. That's what we called
him. And and and that's billedover into his you know, into the
(03:21):
chef. He loved doing that.That's just because he loved the cook.
He wanted people to people around him. Sure, sure food And think about
it. Think about when you're duringthe holidays, when you go home or
from out of town or wedding,you go home for Thanksgiving, it's the
anticipation of being with everybody and laughingand crying and making fun of everybody.
Righting. That sounds like Alex tellus about the event you started a couple
(03:44):
of years ago. It was wasit your brother? I think which brother
of beers came up the idea abouthaving a jelly cook off? Did I
read that somewhere? Yes, itit started with you know, after the
accident, after the funeral, youknow, I was just really sad.
Yeah, you know, my brothersaid, Terry, why don't you have
a chili cook off? And Iwas like, that's it, That's what
I want to do. So itwas like right at the beginning, I
(04:08):
wanted to do this not just tohonor Alex to remember him, but to
help kids, because that's what hedid. He loved helping kids with scholarships.
And so I called a few people. Are his chef from Hack helped
us get this started, and ofcourse at Graystone they opened up their doors
(04:32):
and so they really got us onthe ball of what to do to have
a chili cook off, and it'stook off ever since and it's wonderful.
The last time he were here.I think of his uncle Troy. He's
a real piece of work. Hewas probably a lot like Alex. He
was funny and you know, teasesand everything, and he used to tell
(04:53):
us about the what about stories aboutAlex Mohney was growing up, the funny
stuff that happened. Is he stillinvolved in event? I guess your whole
family is pretty much involved, right. Oh? Yes, we have every
one of the one of my siblingsand of course the cousins and my nephews
are all involved. They all havesome job. Of course, Troy is
our security and I can't see that. Okay, this is what year for
(05:17):
the chili cook off. This willbe the fourth year I thought we're having
okay, And when you first wentto put this together, was it difficult
for you? I honestly I feltlike we were going to just do it
at my church and have a little, you know, chili cook off.
But just the right people came intoplay, you know, like I said,
(05:38):
the chef from from Hack and shewas just bringing in all these chefs
from the area and I'm like,wow, this is great. And then
we had a facility at Graystone tohave it at. So it was something
bigger than what I ever thought.I just thought we were going to have
something little. It turned out tobe this beautiful event. You know,
a couple hundred people, wasn't it? It was Wow? Nobody does and
(06:00):
yeah, I know, just mestarting it, and you know, I
just had the right people coming inand wanting to sport this event. And
of course a lot of the chefsthat are in the cook off are people
that have worked with Alex or wentto school with him at HACKS. So
it's really kind of cool to seeall these people coming together for one cost
(06:21):
to remember Alex and really just ascholarship students scholarship and what do those scholarship
to qualifies for those or how doyou go about qualifying for a scholarship and
what type of scholarship is it?Sure? Right now we have we have
a culinary and we have a sportsscholarship because Alex was involved in sports as
well, and it's open to CentralDolphin East students and it's open to Dolphin
(06:46):
County Technical School students in the culinary. So this year we were just so
excited. We had eight scholarships thatwe gave out. It was amazing and
it's like I feel like we justa little piece of Alex to each of
these students that as they take them, they're so appreciative and it's just a
beautiful time. And we want togrow. We want to grow scholarships and
(07:12):
really I'd like to move forward andget hack scholarships and just a lot of
these kids that are are out there, you know, need a little help,
and they'll get a little help fromAlex. How do the kids like,
do they have to write an essayor what them okay? And what's
that about? We have and everything'sonline and when you know, it's open
like in January for both of thoseschools, and yes, they have to
(07:34):
write an essay of how this hashelped them develop as a child, you
know, whether it's sports or whetherit's culinary, how's this impacted their life?
And so they write these scholarships andthe board and I we sit down
and we pick out the individuals thatwe feel most met the qualifications of you
(07:54):
know, of Alex, living andloving like Alex. You know, why
why did you get into this andwhat do you want to do in your
future? And it gives I wouldimagine the kids would apply. Gets somebody
know who Alex, was they do. That's inspiring, as you're be gonna
say something. Yeah. Something thatI just really enjoy is as we're going
through the scholarships each year is hearingthe hearing the examples of what some of
(08:20):
the students are writing. You know, they're giving examples of how how either
sports or culinary has changed their lifeso far and what they look forward to
doing in the future, or howthey use the scholarship. So I think
hearing those meaningful connections just makes iteven more of a point for us,
(08:43):
just knowing that it's impacting the studentsand the community. Yeah, it's coming
from here, It's coming from downinside who they are, just like Alex,
right, which is I would imagineit's awesome for you guys. Now,
you started this out at a grayStone on Legals Town Road, but
you had a movie because it gottoo big, right, that's right.
Wow, I heard that and thatwas big at the time. So it
(09:05):
was big. Would you mind againtelling us where and when? It is?
Sure? And now we're having itat the new location and that's gray
Stone Brewhouse and that's in Dyllsburg.So we're real excited because it's a it's
a huge pavilion. But not justthat, we have, you know,
lots of grass areas. So we'regonna have lots of games and we're gonna
have fun, fun for the kids. We're even having punkin painting. But
(09:28):
it's a gray Stone brew House andit's three oh three Golf Club Avenue in
Dyllsburg. Okay, So and it'sone to four that we're gonna have them,
and you know, they can gettheir tickets online and oh and it's
September twenty four from one to fourtimes. Okay. The focus of the
(09:50):
whole thing is the chili. Iwas amazed. It seems like every year
when you guys come back to talkabout this, somebody's made this. Really
forgive me, but be tasting chiliyou'd never think taste about, like like
the chocolate chili. Who's going tobe there? Now? This is a
competition and it's the with amateur chefsand professional chefs. But tell us who's
(10:11):
going to be there as far asthe people representing professional chefs right, well,
we have a total of fifteen chefsso far, and we'd like to
get a couple more on so it'sstill open. We have eight professional chefs
now, we have Graystone Brewhouse whohas a secret recipe, but I'm telling
(10:33):
you it sounds fabulous. We'll beposting that after our Good Day PA segment
because he'll be making it on there. But we have, of course,
we have the Chocolate Tier, whichthey're they're doing a chocolate beef chili.
We have a chicken chili. Wehave Devon Seafood and Steak, and we
have cis at Cisco and the jj DK group. So there's a whole
(10:54):
bunch of professionals that we're having.But we also have some special amateur chefs.
Yeah, they are special, They'revery special. One of our special
chefs are Renewed by Anderson. Godbless Renewal by Anderson. They have exploded
in this area as far as theirphilanthropy. They are so very, very
(11:16):
generous. Every time you turn aroundthere's Nancy Ryan and Linda Johnston from Reno
by Anderson. Are they the ones? Yes, they are, and they're
gonna whip up a fabulous chili recipe. So we're really excited. We don't
have the name of that one either, but we're excited. Renew by Anderson.
You know, they continue to supportus. They supported us last year
(11:39):
as a sponsor and this year they'rethey're a top sponsors, so we're just
very appreciative to renew by Anderson andLinda Johnston. That's amazing. Okay,
who else is going to be thereamong the people from that are amateur chefs?
You have who else? Oh?We have well, we have hack
culinary arts programs, so that's wonderful, and we have Dolphin County Tech School
(12:01):
and we have someone from our Wordof Grace Ministries that will be whipping up
something as well, so it'll begood. And we will be posting the
names of all the chilis on ourwebsite and on our Facebook page, but
we don't have them all now,but it is a wide assortment of chilies
that you can sample. Okay,now, be honest, nobody's gonna get
(12:24):
bad. Over the years, there'sbeen so many different types of chilis that's
your favorite? Seriously, there wasone. There was some really good ones
in the last couple of years.And but I did. I loved the
chocolate. I knew it. Iknew it. I love different flavors,
so having you know, chocolate chiliit was. It sounded different, but
(12:48):
I loved it and so there's plentyof other ones too. I loved all
of them, but that one reallystood out. O your mom, right,
I think you know me? Imy brother last year. Now he's
not in the he won't be cookingthis year. Last year he did do
a seafood chili and with a littleside of ice cream, so you know,
(13:11):
maybe he's my brother, but heThat was one of my favorites.
Of course, you know, allof them are very good. They're just
interesting. You know. They justput unique things in the chili that you
never would think would work together.When you try it, it's like,
wow, this is awesome. Soyou know, everybody has their own variety,
and I really think they're They wereall good to me. They were
(13:31):
all different versions of chili. Okay, tickets, how do you get tickets?
Well, you can get tickets onlinenow right now we have well we
have tickets are online at Alex W. Smith Foundation dot org and we have
tickets at twenty dollars per person.We have children's tickets and we have family
(13:54):
packages, so they can get thoseonline. They can get those at the
door. Were the day of theevent, so they're available and you always
surprising me. This tells you.I don't have a life. I stopped
somewhere recently and got breakfast, andthere was something simple last time I I
it was an omelet with whatever yougive ant. And when I looked at
the price and I saw fifteen bucksfor an omelet, unbelievable. And that's
(14:20):
the way it is. The priceshave gone up. But what you're offering,
it's gonna feed the whole family.Wait, it's I mean, way
way cheaper, and it's a wonderfulcause and give a lot of Tom's and
stuff like that. I'm just like, I just think, I'm sure somebody's
thinking some pretty hot stuff. I'mright, I'm sure that's a good idea.
(14:41):
Thank you, Yes, yes,that would be mere. I do
it? Okay, who decides thewinner? And how is the winner decided
upon? Sure, when they whenthey purchased their tickets, they get five
voting tickets. Okay, So theygo around and they decide they have five
chances to vote on their favorite chefchef, And when we wind it up
(15:03):
at about three thirty, we countup those tickets. So it's a people's
vote. So whoever votes for whatis the best chili? Then we have
first, second, and third inprofessional and first second third in the amateurs.
Well this year. So has anLamon repeated a win over the years,
do you know or is that somebodydifferent every year? Do you think
(15:24):
it? I think did the personwith a chocolate one one year? Oh
my gosh, I would remember,Oh we had one. I think it
was this was the gal that wentto school with Alex at the Hilton ad
Lib kitchen craft she won twice inthird third place. I think, so
two third places each year in therow. But that's the only one because
(15:46):
everybody comes in and they come inwith a different version every year, and
it really is up to whoever's votingof which one that's right. And as
she said, you moved it overto the West Shore because you needed more
space. What about rain, rainor shine? Will you be there rainershein
absolutely. We the pavilion holds fourhundred people, so and of course we
(16:10):
have tents and we have pop uptents. So a rain or shine we're
gonna have it. But it's goingto be a beautiful day. We already
put the request in Okay to Alexup. I don't think of me.
I was thinking maybe Tom Russell,our buddy Tom, because he's amazing.
He's really involved in everything in town. Guys, I wanted to ask you
too, what do you need atthis point? Do you need volunteers and
(16:33):
if so, what do you needthem for? What must what do they
have to do? Well, witha larger venue comes a much bigger need,
and so what we really could usesome support on is some extra hands,
volunteering for our security team, volunteeringfor assisting with the pop ups,
(16:56):
putting items up, breaking them down. And you know, the list is
growing as we add more items upuntil the date. So really, if
you are interested and available to volunteer, you can do a few ways.
You can reach us at alex W. Smith Foundation dot org. You can
reach us on any of our socialmedia platforms alex W. Smith Foundation on
(17:22):
on Facebook, Instagram, and youcan also reach us at alex W.
Smith Foundation at gmail dot com.Okay, great now. One of the
things I didn't ask you was,as I mentioned, it's going to be
for the family. Kids don't oftengo for things. It tastes like chilli,
so you have something for them.And what you were just talking about
(17:45):
some of the activities, the music, the kids, the raffles, tell
us about that the silent auction.Wait, well, we have a big
kids area this year. They wehave hot dogs and we have chips,
and we have cookies and drinks.But not only that, we're punkin painting,
face painting, rock painting, Wehave games and it's just gonna be
a whole lot of fun for thekids. Now of course, for the
(18:07):
adults, we have a lot offun too. We have a beer pool,
we have a beer throw, wehave bingo this year. Get out
of here would be great. Andmy brother who was a chef last year
and now heading up the bingo,so it's just gonna be amazing days,
realize that that's great. It'll begreat. And we have a photographer and
(18:29):
we have a prop for photos,so a photo booth, and of course
we have our live band again,so it's just gonna be an amazing day.
We have favors to hand out toeveryone, we have raffles, we
have door prize. We're all excitedlast year about some of those prizes.
We are. We've gotten just atremendous amount of support from our family and
(18:51):
companies around the area. We haveover a hundred people that have donated in
kind donations. Now this will gofor like raffles, even silent raffles,
but also free raffles. You knowof people that will just you know,
they'll be included in that just forpurchasing a ticket. We'll get us all
pumped up. Tell us about someof those prices are going to be given
away. Oh, we have somefabulous prizes. Now, we have the
(19:15):
one the silent auction is from theArmory. The seven ones have an armory.
They're donating a full ship for thewhole year, and that's like a
five hundred and seventy five dollars value. But some of the other prizes are
just like our pizza places and wehave our our olive garden, and we
(19:37):
have baskets, baskets and ice creamand you know, just so many there's
so numerous amounts of people that havedonated this year and they're all going to
go either in the baskets, inthe just regular raffles, or just the
free raffles. So it'll be afabulous day. How many times during the
day, because Alex has been gonea few years and this has been going
on a few years, have peoplecome because they here was a wonderful event.
(20:00):
For a good cause. But didyou find yourself talking to people about
your son and your brother? Oh? Absolutely, This foundation and event it's
all centered around Alex's memory. Andso every time that we're making a plan,
I mean our event it's called Alex'sChili cook Off, And so in
(20:25):
everything that we're doing preparing, we'retalking about him, We're thinking about him.
Yeah, that big picture, Yes, okay, I remember the big
picture. Great. Great, Soyou know, lots of opportunity to talk
about Alex. Take time to reflect, but also see you know how his
memory is now impacting the community andstudents with scholarships. You know, we
(20:48):
all need a purpose in life,and I've often wondered. I've been very
blessed to meet some incredible people overthe last several years. I'm terribly,
terribly sorry. I can't begin totell you how it makes me feel for
the people they've lost their children.But you have to find something. Everybody
needs a purpose. But I betthat Alex is up there celebrating like crazy
(21:11):
and saying, that's my mom,that's my family, that's my sister.
And I think it's a good It'sa I don't want to say a lesson,
but it's something that we all haveto realize how important people are and
that we all need something to Idon't want to say give back, but
make give our life purpose. Andyou guys, I mean, it's amazing,
(21:33):
Terry, what we're gonna say.I was just going to say that.
You know, at the cook Off, there are people that have gone
to school with him or even ifgrace to have worked with him, and
we just got some spectacular interviews withthem of what he meant to them,
and people that still remember him evenafter four years. Oh my god,
remember the things he's done. Andjust to reflect on that and to see
(21:57):
them coming to support us, youknow, it just it just I feel
the love, honestly from people thatare coming. And there's people that don't
even know, they didn't even meetAlex, but yet they're learning about him.
They're learning what a wonderful young manhe was, and they're seeing that
his fruits, even though he's nothere, we are blessing other students because
(22:19):
of that, and so I justfeel like it's just a big circle of
love and we're just flowing it toothers. And so that gives me just
the desire to or the passion Ishould say to continue to do this every
year. I'm glad here you're saying, because I was gonna ask you how
many years you're going continues. You'regonna be an old lady into the vild
this son. I could be,but I definitely want to continue to do
(22:44):
this for a few years and maybewith some of the nephews and nieces,
maybe they could come in and takeover for this. And you know what
else you're doing, you're showing thegiving back as all. I've been pushing
this thing for thirty years about withyoung children, how it makes them feel
to be a part of something likethat, what it does with their self
esteem, and every opportunity. I'malways looking for your opportunity for that.
(23:08):
So that's another thing, as faras volunteering and donating and being sing being
out there as children and seeing theexample that your wonderful son was and somebody
they can try to be like Imean, right, it's it's awesome.
You know, there's like there's ajoy in giving. Like you think you're
losing something when you're giving of yourtime yourself, but really when you're doing
(23:30):
this, there's joy because you knowyou're helping someone and there's something special about
that. And so as we dohave younger people coming in to help us,
they will experience that same joy.Absolutely can't leave without talking about your
sponsors. Tell her who has beenso generous to you? Oh, yes,
well, of course there's loads ofthem, and we have loads of
(23:52):
them. You're right about that.We are. Of course, our top
sponsor is Renewal by Anderson, andwe have Majesty and Masters they have they
have been on board with us sincethe beginning. Of course, we have
some family like my mom Nancy Alhajand we have our Word of Grace ministries.
They're big support, you know,our even our printing get It Now
(24:12):
print and you know M and Tcame in. Of course, we can't
forget about Lucy. She's a beautifullady. And Sherry, she has just
donated a lot of her time,her efforts, her expertise so much in
helping us to form this foundation andjust continues to give us great guidance and
(24:37):
promotions. So she's a wonderful lady. And then, of course I can't
go without saying Jason Viscount, he'sthe one that made this happen at his
facility. And then allowed us tohave it at the brew House and his
staff. You know, they're wonderful. We were planning with him last week
and he's just so helpful, wantingto do whatever he can to make this
(24:57):
a wonderful event. So I mean, and there's so many more, but
we just we just appreciate all oftheir I feel like it's love that they're
just giving and and and in thatgiving, they're going to be blessed too.
So we just appreciate all of them. What do you need at this
point, anything else you need?You need more sponsors? I know you
(25:18):
said you need volunteers. Well wecan only use nor more sponsors, okay,
you know, and that that informationcourses on our website. The more
sponsors we have, the more wecan give more back to students. So
and of course we would help promotetheir business as well and acknowledge them at
the cookoff. So sponsorships are open. We do have a couple more slots
(25:41):
for chefs, so that is openas well. Like like we said,
we could use some hands on helpfor just some tasks of you know,
tense and a little bit of muscles. So anyone that's interested at any point
of that day, if you canhelp, you know, please email us
at our on at our email alexW. Smith Foundation at gmail dot com,
(26:07):
or you can go right onto thatwebsite Alex W. Smith Foundation dot
org and you can message us fromthere. Guys, Terry Ashley Smith,
you guys are such an inspiration.God love you. I mean, Alex,
I didn't have the wasn't lucky enoughto meet him, but I've heard
an awful lot about him over theyears, and he I would love to
have him Ashley as a brother.I mean, he's a fun, loving
(26:30):
guy and supportive and loving and ohgosh, I wish I'm sure he wishes
he could literally wrap his arms aroundboth of you at this time because you've
done incredible things, not only formaking people were of such a wonderful person,
but scholarships and opportunity for families toget out there and do something.
It's pretty much pretty wholesome and funentertainment. You don't see much of that
anymore, so I want to thankyou again. The website address for any
(26:53):
of the things we talked about againtoday is Alex W. Smith Foundation dot
org. And to my listeners,bring your appetites to the best cookoff anywhere
as professional amateur chefs buy for thetitle of the best or the best.
As I said, it's truly afun event for the whole family, with
the proceeds going to the Alex W. Smith Foundation for scholarships to areas students.
(27:15):
Alex Is Chili Cookoff Sunday, Septembertwenty fourth, from one to four
at Graystone Brewhouse in Billsburg and alsocatch Insight when it airs on one of
our iHeart stations or on the iHeartpodcast staff or many other podcast steps.
I'm Sylvia Moss. This has beenthe Insight. Thank you so much for
listening. To see you next week.
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