TEQUESTA — Chili prepared at Paradise Park helped honor Levant Bender’s part in the fight against Adolf Hitler.
The 98-year-old World War II veteran was flown to Washington, D.C., in April by a local charity — Southeast Florida Honor Flight — to visit the memorial dedicated to that war, where children, parents and other visitors greeted him and other veterans. with cheers and cards. Bender recalled that story and his war stories Saturday afternoon at the 13th annual Tequesta Chili Cook-Off, which raises hundreds of thousands of dollars for local nonprofits that serve veterans, such as Southeast Florida Honor Flight.
The cooking competition, held two days before the federal holiday of Veterans Day, featured 28 teams cooking chili for a panel of judges including Mayor Molly Young, Palm Beach County Commissioner Maria Marino, local TV news reporters and local chefs .
Meat-scented smoke wafted from the cabins of the competing teams, manned by firefighters from various fire departments in the province. Children had fun with a bouncy castle. In the center stood a grass-colored Oshkosh military truck, guarded by men in uniform.
The cooking competition attracted thousands of attendees, who paid $30 each, many dressed in American flags or wearing pro-Donald Trump “Make America Great Again” hats.
“Adolf Hitler was a bad guy,” Bender recalled. “If he didn’t like you,” he said, raising his hands in the shape of a gun, “Bam.” Bender, who lives in Port St. Lucie, was a shopkeeper in the Navy and repaired ships in the European theater of war. He was there in the English Channel, he said, when the Nazis surrendered.
“Two Germans passed us and greeted us, and we had our weapons drawn,” he said, smiling, as he had not yet received official notice of the surrender.
Along with veterans, the chef honored the family members of soldiers who died in the war, also known as Gold Star families. Members of the Palm Beach County Fire Rescue, dressed in military-style department uniforms, held photos of the fallen soldiers as their families remembered them.
The cookout also included a silent auction with the largest item being a ride in a military aircraft, the Beechcraft T-34 Mentor, a single-engine aircraft intended for training pilots. Bidders could also try to win a three-hour tour for their children of the Tequesta Fire Station, a fire truck tour and a lunch with firefighters. Other items included “mayor for a day,” where a child of the winning bidder could be honorary mayor of Tequesta for a day.
The Tequesta Chili Cook-Off was started in 2011 by city firefighter David McGovern, who still directs the event. It originally raised money to pay for honor flights like Bender’s, where veterans are celebrated for their service to America.
“Those honor flights really restore your faith in the country,” said volunteer cook-off organizer and Tequesta firefighter Giblin Ray. “People are lining up to cheer these guys on for their years of service.”
The cookout is now raising money for more local veterans charities. These include the North Palm Beach-based Wounded Veterans Relief Fund, which provides financial assistance and dental care to injured and disabled veterans, and the Stuart-based Southeast Florida Honor Flight, which pays for trips for local veterans, especially the terminally ill, to memorials to visit. in Washington for the wars they fought.
This year’s cookout will also raise money for the Warriors Renewal Coalition, which treats injured veterans; Operation 300, which organizes adventure camps for children of fallen soldiers; and Tequesta Friends of Public Safety, which serves local police and firefighters.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Chili cook-off in Tequesta raises money for veterans’ charities
