Shuffle to the Chefs offers a night out, a generous sampling of some of the best food regional restaurants have to offer and a chance for many people in need of help to receive crucial services from St. Andrew’s Mission.
The culinary benefit for St. Andrew’s will be held from 6 to 9 p.m. Thursday at the McComb Mill. Tickets are $100 each and available at Selman’s Jewelers, PJ’s Coffee and St. Andrew’s Mission. More than 90% of each ticket sold goes back to St. Andrew’s Mission.
Shuffle chair and board president Catherine Sanders said the annual event is St. Andrew’s Mission’s sole fundraiser.
“All funds go to St. Andrew’s Mission and our nonprofit organizations underneath the umbrella of St. Andrew’s,” she said.
Those ministries include:
• S.A.M.’s Diner, a soup kitchen that serves hot meals to anyone in need on Mondays and Fridays.
• F.I.G. Tree, a food pantry serving more than 1,000 people every month.
• Free medical clinics in McComb and Brookhaven.
• The St. Andrew’s Activity Center, where members enjoy dancing, luncheons and guest speakers.
• A small business incubator that helps entrepreneurs launch their own business.
• Thrift stores in McComb, Brookhaven, Columbia, Natchez, Vicksburg and Vidalia, La.
• The Southwest Mississippi Recovery Network, a disaster relief effort that was launched in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.
Shuffle to the Chefs includes unlimited tastings of chef-prepared dishes, complimentary wine and beer and a silent auction.
“The two large silent auction items are lunch for four people with the first lady of Mississippi, Elee Reeves, and a signature jewelry creation from Selman’s Jewelers-Gemologist,” Sanders said.
Five of the 18 chefs participating this year are new.
Fred Magee, a Tylertown alderman who operates Grilling with Magee’s, a catering business that specializes in barbecue, went to last year’s Shuffle as a guest. This year he’ll make his debut as a cook.
“There were friendly people, a lot of folks, different food, a good atmosphere,” he said.
Magee mentioned to an organizer last year that he’d like to have his barbecue included in the event in the future.
“I told them, let me know, and they called me,” Magee said.
In addition to catered events, he sets up at festivals and cooks a variety of smoked meats, including pork chops, sausage and chicken. For Shuffle to the Chefs, he’s keeping the menu simple.
“We’re going to do smoked wings,” he said. “I’m going to be outside smoking. When they come up they’re going to be outside smelling the smoke.”
Magee said the event is good for everybody. It supports the good deeds St. Andrew’s does, guests who go are sure to have a good time and chefs who participate get to promote their business.
“I’m looking for a big turnout,” he said. “And it grows your business, networking. And people get to taste your food. They didn’t know you did what you did.”
Chanc Kinchen from Cena restaurant in Hammond, La., along with friends Lee Williams and Bo Johnson, will return for their eighth year of cooking for the St. Andrew’s fundraiser.
“I enjoy visiting McComb,” Kinchen said. “We get a lot of McComb residents visiting Cena, so it’s a chance to give back to them as well as giving back to a great cause.”
Kinchen will be serving Louisiana crawfish macaroni and cheese.
“We are a northern Italian restaurant, and we make all of our pasta by hand,” he said. “This year, we will be making fusilli pasta to go with the Louisiana crawfish, a Louisiana crawfish mac and cheese.”
The atmosphere of the event is lively, Kinchen said, “Everyone is always in great spirits. It’s been cool to see how much the fundraiser has grown.”
