NEWS

“A first for CASI

At present, the TOT Pod is the only CASI Pod to have the honor of having two Past Exulted Rulers as members and active cooks. Mike and Jennifer Moore are both PER’s of the Irving Elks and active members of the TOT Pod. Mike recently won his first cook-off and is hooked on cooking CASI. Jennifer and Mike are in their first year of cooking and are doing well in competing with the best.

Irving Elks Lodge #2334 is a friend of CASI sponsor and host the TOT Pod event. TOT also holds their monthly meeting at the Irving Lodge. In addition to the TOT Cookoff the Lodge also holds a cook-off for Elks charities. The support of the Irving Elks of TOT and CASI is a key element in the success of chili in North Texas.

CASI is very fortunate to have the support of the Elks around the country.” Bob Coats

“The 2012 Great Peppers' Meeting will begin an era of CASI organizing and funding the meetings. During our Committee Report, the idea of a Hosted Friday Night Dinner was raised.

In the past, some Pods raised funds and paid for this effectively as their gift to the participants. If a dinner is not included on the schedule, we would stock the Hospitality Room with food and snacks anticipating more folks dining on the fare.

The pros of having a meal would be to allow folks to sit and mingle over a relaxing meal. We would arrange for people to get random seating so that we are more likely to sit with folks we don’t know. This way we meet new friends and share ideas from various regions of the country, instead of falling into the habit of sitting with our closest friends.

Since we are having the meeting so close to the DFW Airport to reduce travel time and costs for folks flying to the meeting, it means many won't rent cars. As such, having a nice community meal at the hotel means they don't have to scramble to find a good meal.

While there are a number of restaurants within short driving distance, there is only the Denny's within walking distance, other than the hotel's restaurant.

The cons are; this meal would cost somewhere in the neighborhood of $3,000 depending on the meal choice and the number attending. If these funds were "saved" then CASI could fund almost a full extra scholarship.

Planning a Friday meal also means it would be harder for folks to find time to get out to local restaurants and enjoy the local cuisine.

We ask that the Great Peppers discuss this with the members of your Pods and provide us feedback. Please email your input to Adrienne Grant at adrienneg@gmail.com who will accumulate them for consideration by the GPM Committee. In order to allow adequate time to get the memberships’ input, we are not asking for a response until October 19^th.” Ed Blair