Are you up for a chili challenge?

The Point Roberts Emergency Preparedness (PREP) group will be hosting a chili cook-off to share the passion of local cooks for their secret recipes and the commitment of the PREP group to keeping Point Roberts safe.

“We want to make it a nice community event and get people to come together and learn how to prepare for emergencies,” said president Shant Tersakian.

There will be room for 12 pots of chili and cooks need to preregister at prepgroup17@gmail.com. The registration deadline is May 15. The event itself on May 21 at South Beach House from 5 to 9 p.m. will charge a $10 admission for a chance to sample and vote on the chili offerings. The top three vote-getters will win an award and bragging rights. Beer and wine will be for sale at the event.

Events like this one are a perfect match for the group’s mission to “create a network of people and resources so that we might sustain a level of self-sufficiency in the event of an emergency of any kind threatening our community,” Tersakian explained, important in any community but critical on the Point, given its geopolitical isolation.

“All the funds we raise will go to benefit the community,” Tersakian said. This event will specifically raise funds to acquire and equip a Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) trailer. Under the PREP umbrella a number of community members are trained through the national emergency preparedness program.

Previously a Red Cross trailer was stationed in Point Roberts but Tersakian said the community lost that asset earlier this year. “The Red Cross decided our community was too small to make the best use of the resource,” Tersakian said. Adding a CERT trailer to replace the lost resource has become a primary fundraising goal for the group.