Spreading love through BBQ – by Guest Writer Doug Francis

This is a first for Oshawa Ogre’s Views, News & BBQ’s….
I am very proud to have Doug Francis whom some of you will know is the Pitmaster of the BBQ team Hogs Gone Wild BBQ write a guest article for my blog.
Doug lives and competes out of Lakeland Florida and I met him and his lovely wife Biggi when I attended Pigfest in January.
Doug also writes for Huck’s Hutt as well as being a contributor for Barbecue Mag Online

I asked Doug if there was a topic that he would like to write about and he quickly said he wanted to do an article on an event that was dear to his heart which was the 2nd Annual Save Our Homeless Charity BBQ that he recently helped with. Here is his story in his words and pictures.

by Doug Francis

There are lots of good folks, and teams, out there using BBQ, not only to help feed a passion within
themselves, but also feeding others to help out a cause they are passionate about. On any given
weekend, in any given town across the country, you can easily find some one out there Barbecuing for
a cause. Teams that donate not only their time and efforts to put on a good charity event for the
organizers, but also the use of all their equipment, and many teams even making donations themselves.
It is not uncommon it see a team walk in a competition, get on stage, where they announce that all their
prize money will go to a charity of their choice, I have seen it, and it made me so proud to be involved
with folks like this, true salt of the earth!!!
I am lucky to have a couple of teams like that here in my own backyard, Whiskey Bent BBQ
and Team Unknown BBQ,  all these folks, are
defiantly in that salt of the earth category, Spending countless time and effort for the good of their
community.
I was privileged to be able to attend an event that these two teams put on this weekend for the, Save
Our Homeless Pets, this is an organization dedicated to helping homeless
pets in Polk county Florida. April 9th was the 2nd Annual Save Our Homeless Charity BBQ!!!

This is the second year Whiskey Bent BBQ has participated in this great event, that was hosted my Ron at Grills
Plus More here in Lakeland, FL. This year, Team Unknown BBQ jumped in the ring
to help with this fund raising event. To help beef up this event Whiskey Bent & Team Unknown
decided to have a head to head people’s choice BBQ cook off during the fund raiser, wow, talk about
throwing down the gauntlet!! Both teams are putting it on the line, in the name of charity. A couple of
the “Big Dogs” in BBQ helping out some dogs and cats in need…fitting!!!

This event proved to be a very successful event, several of the animals were either adopted or are ready
to go home with a new family. All who wanted to take one of these great dogs or cats home, had to be
approved, the agency has to insure it is a pet friendly home these animals are going to. Preliminary net
for the proceeds of this event is $1600. That will go a long way to help these homeless pets, have a
long and happy life. How great is that!!!

Whiskey Bent BBQ and Team Unknown BBQ cooked a total of 60 pork butts between both the teams,
they were selling these butts in a variety of ways, whole butt, in a sandwich, in a sandwich meal or
sample. With the sample purchase the patron was able to vote for which sample they liked best. I
sampled both teams pork, and I, as an FBA judge, would have given straight 10′s to both teams, these
guys can cook some pork!!!
The event started selling at 10am, by noon they had sold out of all the whole pork butts, and were down
to only a hand full designated for sandwiches and samples, Polk County folks know, when these two
teams are out, you had better get there early if you want to eat.

Teams like Whiskey Bent and Team Unknown do not stay idle, these guys will be out on the BBQ trail
all year around, that is one advantage of living in the “Sunshine State”. Both teams will be competing
in FBA’s Suncoast BBQ Bash April 15-16 in Venice, FL. Whiskey Bent BBQ will be doing a split
squad for that weekend, half the the will be in Venice, and the other half will be in Salisbury, MD
competing in the KCBS event Pork in the Park, this is a State Championship event, and it is sure to
attract top rated teams from around the country.
Whiskey Bent would also like to invite everyone to join them at their next upcoming charity event,
Relay for Life event at Mulberry High School sponsored by Magnify Credit Union,
on, April 29th. Whiskey Bent will be serving up about 2000 of their world famous
chicken wings. If your in the area, make sure you come by and enjoy some great BBQ and help out this
wonderful event.

Thanks Doug, I am honoured to have such a good friend be the first guest writer on this site.