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Cajun cooking contest to boost New Orleans nonprofits
By Sylvia L. White, The Catholic Sun
November 1, 2007
Members of the Louisiana State University Alumni Association have a special affinity for Cajun cooking, but participants in the Phoenix chapter have a heart for service as well.
The alumni association will hold its second annual Great Cajun Cook-Off to benefit the Joel Monte West Club Scholarship and the New Orleans Area Habitat for Humanity from noon-4 p.m., Nov. 4, at the Lath House Pavilion in Heritage Park, 115 N. 6th Street, Phoenix.
Amateur cooks and restaurants compete for the title of “Best in the West” gumbo and jambalaya. There will also be live music, a silent auction and a balloon artist and a bounce house for the kids.
A portion of the proceeds will go toward the scholarship given in memory of Joel Monte West, a young LSU art student who died tragically in a car accident in 1987. The $1,000 annual scholarship will be given to an Arizona high school graduate who attends Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge.
The first scholarship recipient, Scott Andrew Melancon, is in his first year at LSU. Melancon’s mother, Rhonda, lived in Louisiana, moved to Arizona with her parents, graduated from high school in Arizona, then returned to Louisiana to attend LSU.
Melancon and his family moved to Arizona in the fall of 2005 when they lost their home to Hurricane Katrina. His mother attends Mass at Christ the King Parish in Mesa, but hopes to return to Louisiana with her other three children in the summer of 2009.
“It means a great deal for several reasons,” she said of her son being the first scholarship recipient. “Financially, Katrina took its toll on us. We were really grateful for it.”
Some of the money raised during the cook-off will go to Habitat for Humanity, a non-profit ecumenical ministry founded in 1976 that builds houses for families in need. The organization battles substandard housing and homelessness worldwide.
The New Orleans Area Habitat for Humanity, founded in 1983, has built more than 100 homes in the city’s metro area. Their work with ongoing recovery and rebuilding of New Orleans is critical in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.
“Habitat for Humanity is helping people get their own start,” said Lori Pennison, past president of the Phoenix chapter of the LSU Alumni Association. “We’re helping from here.”
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