Traveler’s Cellar Winery hosts Inaugural Reuniting After War BBQ Championship to benefit veterans

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – Travelers Cellar Winery partnered with a national non-profit hosting a BBQ cook off to raise money in support of veterans.

Saturday, the Inaugural Reuniting After War BBQ Championship was held at the winery.

Local well-known faces participated as judges such as Senator Mike Wilson, Warren County Sheriff Brett Hightower, WKU Police Chief Mitch Walker and NEWS 40’s evening anchor, Morgan Hoover.

During the championship, $5,000 was raised for Reuniting After War, a non-profit that hosts reunions for combat veterans.

According to Mary Henry, the founder of the non-profit, the reunions help veterans feel a sense of community and it can improve the mental health of those in attendance.

“It’s been proven that people that you share trauma with are the people that understand the most and understand what you’re going through. So, and it also, after the reunion it will reestablish some relationships that might have either been severed or broken for various reasons. We’ve heard from a lot of them that they’re just more in touch with the units after the reunion,” said Henry.

“We like barbecuing. We don’t do it professionally. We just do it in our backyard. It’s been an awesome Saturday and RAW is honestly just a really cool organization. We owe our veterans everything. They’re are heroes. They’re real-life heroes They’re not made up heroes, they’re heroes to us. So we give back in support of them and have fun while we do it and that’s what we wanted to do this weekend,” said Jonathan Vaughan, one of the competitors.

For the taste test, the judges were given the food anonymously, not knowing where the meat came from so the choices could be fair and the overall champion was Cotton BBQ!