We know that it is not your long term plan to depend solely on human ser­vices agen­cies for food, cloth­ing and short term emer­gency aid. But there are times when you have done every­thing you can to make ends meet, and its’ just not enough. These are the times that we are here to help.

There are many gen­er­ous peo­ple and abun­dant resources in the Bluffton area for neigh­bors with legit­i­mate short term needs.

This area of our site will be updated reg­u­larly to give you the most up-to-date ser­vices, resources and learn­ing oppor­tu­ni­ties available.

Every day, our Bluffton neigh­bors expe­ri­ence sit­u­a­tions that can break your heart. In these sto­ries, we have attempted to cap­ture dif­fer­ent sit­u­a­tions that we learn about, and what we do to help out. We hope you will enjoy them here…

THE STORY:
A local vol­un­teer woke up one chilly morn­ing to real­ize that she needed to get into her robe and cud­dle up in it to get warm and cozy. In that moment, it dawned on her how many less for­tu­nate peo­ple never get the oppor­tu­nity to get “warm all over” when the tem­per­a­ture drops.
The vol­un­teer and her hus­band set out to change that, and came to Bluffton Self Help with the dream to gather women in the com­mu­nity together who want to give back to neigh­bors in need.

THE COLD REALITY:
For many of Bluffton Self Help’s clients dur­ing the win­ter months, keep­ing warm on a cold day can be a dif­fi­cult propo­si­tion. Often, heated liv­ing space is “iffy”, and for some, there is no per­ma­nent place to call “home”.

THE OPPORTUNITY:
The women of neigh­bor­ing plan­ta­tions will spread the word about the need for blan­kets and robes. They’ll tell their neigh­bors, and through­out Feb­ru­ary, will col­lect gen­tly used or new blan­kets and robes at a drop-off loca­tion in their neigh­bor­hood, or at BSH.

WANT TO HELP?
Begin­ning NOW through Feb­ru­ary 29^th, gather and drop off blan­kets and robes at BSH or to a Drop Off loca­tion near you.

Over the Christ­mas Hol­i­days,  a group of 20 Uni­ver­sity of Geor­gia stu­dents spent two full days of com­mu­nity ser­vice at BSH.  They are one team in UGA’s “Project Impact”, which is an alter­na­tive to Christ­mas and Spring break.  Not only were they an unbe­liev­able help , but were truly an inspi­ra­tion and “ener­gizer” for all of us.

They folded and orga­nized cloth­ing, loaded and unloaded boxes and boxes of food, and gen­er­ally kept every­one laugh­ing and enjoy­ing every minute they were with us.

At left if the note they pre­sented to us upon their departure.

We should be thank­ing YOU… Uni­ver­sity of Geor­gia students!

Birdies for Char­ity is a fun way to con­tribute to your favorite char­ity while fol­low­ing the PGA TOUR pros as they play in The Heritage.

Each par­tic­i­pat­ing char­ity will receive every penny of the dona­tions of this pro­gram, plus the Her­itage Clas­sic Foun­da­tion will con­tribute an addi­tional $100,000 among the par­tic­i­pat­ing charities.

Each orga­ni­za­tion asks their sup­port­ers to pledge a small amount for each birdie made dur­ing The Her­itage. In 2011, 1,401 birdies were made by the PGA TOUR golfers. The Birdies pro­gram cel­e­brated its 12^th year in 2011 by dis­trib­ut­ing $391,944 to local non-profits, push­ing the total to around $3.2 mil­lion since it began 2000.

If you would like to make your pledge directly to the Birdies for Char­ity Web­site, then go here.

Or, you can down­load our pledge form, com­plete it, and send it to Birdies for Charity.

Either way, you can enjoy more of your game, and Bluffton Self Help wins!

Thanks for your support.

REGISTER TODAY FOR THE FIRST AREA INTERNATIONAL CHILI SOCIETY COOKOFF IN BLUFFTON, SC

Bluffton, SC, Jan­u­ary 24, 2012–Mark your cal­en­dar and reg­is­ter TODAY to par­tic­i­pate in the First Annual RED APRON CHILI COOKOFF, the first sanc­tioned chili cookoff to be held in Hilton Head/Bluffton SC on Sat­ur­day, Feb­ru­ary 25.  This first annual event will be held at Tanger 2 Out­let Cen­ter Hilton Head.

The RED APRON CHILI COOKOFF will ben­e­fit Bluffton Self Help, Inc. a United Way Agency and is named to rep­re­sent the Bluffton Self Help, Inc red apron logo.  This first year event has open­ings for more than 20 cooks in each of the four plus “People’s Choice” where the spec­ta­tors pick a win­ner.  The sanc­tioned cat­e­gories are The Com­pet­i­tive Red, The Chili Verde, Salsa and the Home­style Chili Cookoff.

The COMPETITIVE RED sanc­tioned chili cookoff fol­lows the rules of the ICS and is defined as any kind of meat or com­bi­na­tion of meats, cooked with red chili pep­pers, var­i­ous spices and other ingre­di­ents, with the excep­tion of BEANS and PASTA which are STRICTLY FORBIDDEN.

The CHILI VERDE sanc­tioned chili cookoff fol­lows the rules of the ICS and is defined as any kind of meat or com­bi­na­tion of meats, cooked with green chili pep­pers, var­i­ous spices and other ingre­di­ents, with the excep­tion of BEANS and PASTA which are STRICTLY FORBIDDEN.

In the SALSA cat­e­gory the salsa must be home­made by the con­tes­tant whose name with ICS num­ber appears on the Con­tes­tant appli­ca­tion.  It may be brought to the site that day or it may be pre­pared at the Cookoff.

The HOMESTYLE Chili Cookoff (THE NEW CATEGORY) is defined as the cook’s favorite com­bi­na­tion of ingre­di­ents result­ing in a dish sea­soned with chili pep­pers and spices.  There is no restric­tion or require­ments as to the ingre­di­ents, but the entry must be home­made and have chili pep­per flavor.

All sanc­tioned events fea­ture cook­ing on site while spec­ta­tors watch and each cook must make 32 ounces of chili for judg­ing.  Spec­ta­tors will have the oppor­tu­nity to taste the “People’s Choice” entries, pre­pared on site or brought to the cookoff, while the cooks pre­pare their offi­cial entries for the four dif­fer­ent cat­e­gories.  Cooks par­tic­i­pat­ing in the four cat­e­gories have the option to bring an extra pot of chili with beans to also enter the “People’s Choice” unsanc­tioned com­pe­ti­tion.  Judges will be selected from local celebrity chefs and personalities.

Cooks inter­ested in enter­ing only the “People’s Choice” cat­e­gory and not the sanc­tioned cat­e­gories (Red Tra­di­tional, Chili Verde, Salsa and Home­style) can do so.  The “People’s Choice” cat­e­gory will be voted on by the spec­ta­tors and fea­tures local restau­rants.  For more infor­ma­tion on this cat­e­gory, con­tact Lili Cole­man at Bluffton Self Help.

The four sanc­tioned cat­e­gories, sanc­tioned by the Inter­na­tional Chili Soci­ety (ICS) fol­low all the rules and reg­u­la­tions set by ICS and cooks (both ama­teur and pro­fes­sional) must be mem­bers or join the Chili Soci­ety prior to the cookoff.  The ICS is the offi­cial orga­ni­za­tion that sanc­tions chili cookoffs. These events are world­wide and ben­e­fit char­i­ties or non­profit orga­ni­za­tions. All win­ners of ICS sanc­tioned cookoffs qual­ify to com­pete for cash prizes and awards at the World’s Cham­pi­onship Chili Cookoff. The ICS is one of the largest food contests/festival orga­ni­za­tions in the world. Their sole pur­pose is to pro­mote, develop and improve the prepa­ra­tion and appre­ci­a­tion of true chili and to deter­mine each year the World’s Cham­pion Chili through offi­cially sanc­tioned and reg­u­lated com­pet­i­tive cookoffs.

The cooks in all the cat­e­gories are pro­vided space to cook and are required to sup­ply their own tent and cook­ing equip­ment includ­ing a one-pound propane stove, plus fol­low all the rules and reg­u­la­tions out­lined by ICS.  There is no access to elec­tric­ity on the cook­ing sites and a lim­ited water supply.

The win­ner of the Com­pet­i­tive Red is guar­an­teed a spot in the South Car­olina Chili Cham­pi­onship to be held in Bel­ton, SC in April and if less than 20 cooks par­tic­i­pate, the Last Chance Chili Cookoff in 2012.  If more than 20 cooks enter the com­pe­ti­tion, the win­ner is eli­gi­ble to com­pete in the World’s Cham­pi­onship Chili Cookoff.  The World’s Cham­pi­onship Chili Cookoff is to be held on Magic Island in Charleston, West Vir­ginia on Octo­ber 5–7, 2012.

If ten or more cooks par­tic­i­pate in the Chili Verde and Salsa cat­e­gories, the win­ner pro­gresses on to the World’s Cham­pi­onship Chili Cookoff as well. Ten or more in the Home­style cat­e­gory will qual­ify the win­ner to com­pete in the ICS World’s Cham­pi­onship Home­style Chili Cookoff.

The offi­cial hotel for this event is the Hilton Gar­den Inn located off High­way 278 in Bluffton across from the Tanger II out­lets.  A spe­cial rate has been set for this event.

The cost to enter the cookoff is $35 per cook­ing team per cat­e­gory, plus any ICS mem­ber­ship fees.

Spon­sors to date include Bluffton Today and Island Packet.  Addi­tional spon­sor­ships are available.

For more infor­ma­tion about the cookoff and to par­tic­i­pate con­tact Lili Cole­man at Bluffton Self Help, Inc., on line at lili@blufftonselfhelp.org or call Bluffton Self Help at 843–757-8000.  Reg­is­tra­tion will also be avail­able at Blufftonselfhelp.org.

BLUFFTON SELF HELP, INC.

Bluffton Self Help, Inc. is a non­profit orga­ni­za­tion in Bluffton, SC and was founded in 1987.  The mis­sion of the orga­ni­za­tion is to help those indi­vid­u­als in the greater Bluffton area who are in need of short-term, doc­u­mented finan­cial assis­tance and to also pro­vide them with the most fun­da­men­tal needs, such as FREE food and cloth­ing, while urg­ing them to become more self-reliant.  In the past year the agency has assisted over 22,000 clients.

UNITED WAY OF THE LOWCOUNTRY

United Way of the Low­coun­try cam­paign con­tri­bu­tions fund 32 part­ner agen­cies and 42 pro­grams in Beau­fort and Jasper coun­ties. Those part­ner agen­cies focus on one or more of United Way’s pri­or­i­ties to achieve bet­ter HEALTH, EDUCATION, SHELTER, NUTRITION and INCOME in Beau­fort and Jasper counties. ###

What Red Apron Chili Cookoff

When Sat­ur­day, Feb­ru­ary 25, 2012, 10 am until 4 pm

Where Hilton Head/Bluffton, SC at Tanger II Out­let Cen­ter Hilton Head off High­way 278

Who Ben­e­fits Bluffton Self Help, Inc. a non­profit orga­ni­za­tion in Bluffton, SC and a United Way agency. BSH was founded in 1987 to help Bluffton neigh­bors in crit­i­cal need of short term finan­cial assis­tance, food and cloth­ing, while sup­port­ing them to become self-reliant.

Why To ben­e­fit the clients of Bluffton Self Help, Inc and to stock the food pantry at Bluffton Self Help

How (for COOKS)

25 or more cooks will com­pete in four sep­a­rate competitions.

The COMPETITIVE RED sanc­tioned chili cook off fol­lows the rules of the Inter­na­tional Chili Soci­ety. is defined by the Inter­na­tional Chili Soci­ety as any kind of meat or com­bi­na­tion of meats, cooked with RED chili pep­pers, var­i­ous spices and other ingre­di­ents, with the excep­tion of BEANS and PASTA
which are strictly forbidden.

The CHILI VERDE sanc­tioned chili cookoff fol­lows the rules of the Inter­na­tional Chili Soci­ety as any kind of meat or com­bi­na­tion of meats, cooked with GREEN chili pep­pers, var­i­ous spices and other ingre­di­ents, with the excep­tion of BEANS and PASTA which are strictly forbidden.

SALSA, make on site or brought to the event.

The HOMESTYLE Chili Cookoff. Home­style chili is defined by the Inter­na­tional Chili Soci­ety as the Cook’s favorite com­bi­na­tion of ingre­di­ents result­ing in a dish sea­soned with chili pep­pers and spices. There is no restric­tion or require­ment as to the ingre­di­ents, (except receipt must be proved prov­ing it was pur­chased), but the entry must be home­made and have chili pep­per fla­vor. Must be made on site. A min­i­mum of two gal­lons of chili must be pre­pared includ­ing 32 ounces for judg­ing. A one-year Home­style ICS mem­ber­ship fee is $20 and allows the mem­ber to par­tic­i­pant in any ICS sanc­tioned Home­style Chili Cookoff.

No ICS mem­ber who holds full mem­ber­ship, includ­ing ICS Home­style, may par­tic­i­pate in Home­style and Com­pet­i­tive Red at the same event.

The PEOPLE’S CHOICE fea­ture is chili with beans and spices, pre-prepared by each contestant/cook and offered through­out the day to spec­ta­tors for “tast­ing” for a mod­est fee. The RED APRON CHILI COOKOFF requires every par­tic­i­pant to pro­vide two gal­lons of their People’s Choice chili in order to have their entry fee waived.

Local chefs and food crit­ics will judge the entries and the win­ners will be announced imme­di­ately fol­low­ing the competition.

All cooks (AMATEUR AND PROFESSIONAL) must be mem­bers of the Inter­na­tional Chili Soci­ety, sup­ply their own tent and cook­ing equip­ment includ­ing a one-pound propane stove. Each cook must make a total of at least two gal­lons of chili plus 32 ounces for judg­ing. All chili is pre­pared on site. Cooks bring three wash basins. One with 10:1 ratio of water and bleach. One with soapy water. One for rins­ing. Cooks also bring hand sanitizer.

Check in is between 7 and 9 am NO EXCEPTIONS. Chop­ping is between 9 am and 11 am. Light the stoves at 11 am. Judg­ing is at 3 pm. Spec­ta­tors can sam­ple chili after the judge has col­lected the judg­ing sam­ple. All deci­sions are final. Meat and all ingre­di­ents must be pur­chased from a gro­cery store and receipts must be pro­vided and will be checked by vol­un­teers prior to the start of the competition.

Booth dec­o­ra­tions will be encour­aged and one win­ner will win a two-night resort stay in the area.

Costs to enter the cookoff is $35 for sanc­tioned RED,  GREEN and HOMESTYLE,  and $25 for Salsa, PLUS ICS MEMBERSHIP FEES.

How (for SPECTATORS)

Spec­ta­tors will pay $10 plus a bag of non­per­ish­able food items or $15 with no food items to donate. Entry to the cookoff will begin at 10 am and last until all chili has been con­sumed. Beer and wine will be avail­able so proper iden­ti­fi­ca­tion is required to receive the wrist band to allow the pur­chase of alco­holic beverages

Restau­rants and stores in Tanger II will offer spe­cials to spec­ta­tors while the cooks pre­pare their chilies. Hilton Gar­den Inn in Bluffton located across from Tanger II is offer­ing spe­cial hotel rates of $79 just men­tioned the Red Apron Chili Cookoff.

It’s time to whip out that world famous chili recipe you’ve been keep­ing under wraps. The Red Apron Chili Cookoff is com­ing to town on Feb­ru­ary 25^th, and you still have time to enter any or all four cat­e­gories in the con­test tak­ing place at TANGER II Out­let in Bluffton, and ben­e­fit­ing Bluffton Self Help.

Ever won­dered how pop­u­lar Chili Cookoff con­tests really are?

Well, ICS (The Inter­na­tional Chili Soci­ety) is the largest food con­test, fes­ti­val orga­ni­za­tion in the world! And Bluffton Self Help is bring­ing a sanc­tioned ICS Chili Cook-off right here to Bluffton. It is the first sanc­tioned chili cook-off to be help ever in the Hilton Head/Bluffton area. The RED APRON CHILI COOKOFF will ben­e­fit BSH, a United Way Agency. This first year event has open­ings for 20 cooks in each of the four categories.

The Cat­e­gories and Prizes are:

• Best Com­pet­i­tive Red Chili (top prize — up to $500 plus a week­end resort stay in Hilton Head area)
• Best Chili Verde Chile pre­pared by a cook (top prize — up to $500 plus a week­end resort stay in Hilton Head area)
• Best Salsa (top prize — up to $250 plus a week­end resort stay in Hilton Head area)
• Best Home­style Chile (new cat­e­gory) (top prize — up to $250 plus a week­end resort stay in Hilton Head area)
• People’s Choice Chili — your favorite recipe made with beans and offered for spec­ta­tor tast­ing through­out the day.

If you’re not really the cook and more the cook’s best friend… there’s a job for you, too — TASTING!
The prizes will be awarded accord­ing to pop­u­lar vote from the event’s expert tasters.

Put this on your cal­en­dar now!

WHEN: Sat­ur­day, Feb­ru­ary 25^th
WHERE: TANGER II OUTLET
COST FOR COOKS: $35 for sanc­tioned RED and GREEN plus ICS Mem­ber­ship fees,  $25 for Salsa and $35 for Home­style plus ICS Mem­ber­ship fees)
PEOPLE’S CHOICE: Bring 2 gal­lons of chili to offer to spec­ta­tors for tast­ing, and your $35 entry fee will be waived.
COST FOR TASTERS: $10 plus a bag of non­per­ish­able food items or $15 with­out food dona­tion
BEER AND WINE: With proper iden­ti­fi­ca­tion, wrist bands will be pro­vided to allow pur­chase of alco­holic bev­er­ages
TIME: 10:ooam — 4:00pm; judg­ing at 3:00pm;  tast­ing through­out the day; Spe­cials avail­able all day at par­tic­i­pat­ing Tanger II stores and restaurants.

Spon­sor­ships are avail­able and more infor­ma­tion is avail­able at bluffonselfhelp.org or by call­ing Lili Cole­man 843−757−8000.

Spon­sor­ship Lev­els include:

The Resort Sponsorship

(dona­tion of a 2 night week­end stay in a Hilton Head or Bluffton area hotel/resort)

This includes:

Appro­pri­ate list­ing at the event

Two free event tickets

$100 Celebrity Cook Sponsorship

(Open to area restau­rant chefs or celebrities)

This includes:

Cook­ing slot in the cookoff of choice

Two free event tickets

Appro­pri­ate spon­sor list­ing at the event

$250 Sil­ver Sponsorship

This includes:

Name inclu­sion in all reg­is­tra­tion packets

Appro­pri­ate spon­sor list­ing at the event

Two free event tickets

Appro­pri­ate men­tions via pub­lic address at the event

$500 Gold Sponsorships

This includes:

One Free Chili Cook-off Team entry (must join ICS)

Appro­pri­ate spon­sor list­ing on all event publications

Name inclu­sion in all reg­is­tra­tion packets

Appro­pri­ate “event area” spon­sor­ship within the cook-off, if requested

Four free event tickets

Appro­pri­ate men­tions via pub­lic address at the event

$1000 Plat­inum Sponsorship

Receive the above ben­e­fits at the Gold level plus:

Four addi­tional free event tick­ets (total of eight)

Promi­nent logo inclu­sion on event web­site, if provided

Logo inclu­sion on all event pub­li­ca­tions, reg­is­tra­tion packets

Recog­ni­tion and logo (if pro­vided) pres­ence in all event media advertising

Oppor­tu­nity to par­tic­i­pate as a judge of the Chili Cookoff

Spon­sor­ships are tax deductible and made out to Bluffton Self Help, Inc.

After our FOOD SOS went out yes­ter­day, we were delighted to arrive this morn­ing to a crew of sup­port­ers from Col­leton River Plan­ta­tion, who brought all of these fresh eggs! And, they aren’ t done. After see­ing the bare shelves, they headed off to stock up on cere­als.… As board mem­ber John Orth noted, “Mir­a­cles hap­pen every day. Some­times we just don’t rec­og­nize them.”

Thank you Col­leton River Supporters!

And for those of you out there who still want to help… please stop by with your food dona­tions! Thanks!

Even after a Christ­mas sea­son of giv­ing, Bluffton Self Help has very lit­tle food to dis­trib­ute to neigh­bors in need.

We are encour­ag­ing clients to use recy­cleable cloth type bags to fill gro­ceries in and bring them back for each visit /food dis­tri­b­u­tion. This will hope­fully end our reliance on plas­tic bags and allow us to do our part to bring more “green” to BSH. Con­tinue Reading…