Pigging out for a cause

Could you eat an entire order of cheese sticks in two minutes and forty-two seconds? The winner of Toppers Pizza's Topperstix eating challenge last Saturday did just that. 

Though the challenge seemed more about competition and stuffing oneself than anything else, it served to raise money and awareness for WAFER, a local food pantry. 

Heidi Blanke, WAFER director, said, "We're busier than ever, so any funds help us fill out our shelves…We're thrilled that [Toppers] wants to do this for us."

Funding is now even more important for WAFER; in this negative economy, more and more people are having trouble putting enough food on the table.

"We've seen significant increases in the number of people using WAFER in the past two years…we've set a record for the number of people served," Blanke said. 

All proceeds from sales of pizza by the slice at the contest went to WAFER, and the event also helped Toppers make people aware of their efforts to raise money and collect food for the next month at both locations.

The first part of the contest was a "celebrity round," with representatives from WAFER, a radio DJ from 100.1, Dave Phel of the UW-L University Police, and Xavier Jackson from the La Crosse Spartans. 

Phelwas pleased to be in the contest. "Students get to see us here outside of enforcement situations…they can see us as human." 

But none of the celebrities even came close to the winning time - the best they could do was nine and a half minutes.

Several strategies were used to eat the mountain of sticks in the least time possible. UW-L student Dan Carroll said, "My strategy is ‘chipmunking,' just stuffing tons of food in my mouth, and tearing the strips as I go… I think I have a good chance of winning." Other contestants folded the cheese sticks over or dunked them in water before eating to cool them.

A few people had even trained or fasted beforehand. And it was speed, not portions, that proved to be the biggest problem, several students said. 

Post-contest, Carroll said that he could have easily eaten that much, but the time limitations were hard. 

"It was difficult…I didn't put on my best performance." But even if they had to pig out to get it, most people enjoyed the free food and the competition. 

Toppers also offered a $200 gift card to the first place winner, second place got a $100 gift card, and third place received a $50 gift card and a sweatshirt. All contestants also received free t-shirts.