Donna Wyse-Hill is a winner.
During the past few years, she has won various sweepstakes, vacations and thousands of dollars. But she’s best known as a winner of more than 300 cooking awards – such as her recent win of the Campbell’s Soup National Cooking Competition.
“I’ve always enjoyed cooking as a hobby,” Wyse-Hill says. “Winning is very exciting.”
Participants created dishes using a Campbell’s Soup or Broth and a choice of seven other products. Wyse-Hill chose two cans of Swanson’s Chicken Broth (made by Campbell’s), one can of Campbell’s Tomato Fiesta Soup, and a can of Veg-All mixed vegetables to create her “10-Minute Tortilla Soup.” All together, she says the recipe cost her about $10. It won her $10,000.
Wyse-Hill says she’s splitting the money with her mother, Joy Wyse, who lives across the street.
“We both entered, and we promised each other that whoever won would split the money with the other one,” she says.
Last year, Wyse-Hill walked away with the grand prize at the State Fair of Texas cooking competition, a feat she also accomplished in 1987. To compete for the grand prize, Wyse-Hill says it’s necessary to enter a wide array of contests over a three-week period.
“They total up your points from all the contests you enter,” Wyse-Hill says. “It takes quite a long time to get ready, and this year, I won’t be in the running. I just don’t have time.”
Perhaps her five-year-old nephew, Travis Kindred, can pick up the slack. At the age of three, he won a blue ribbon at his first contest for his mints recipe. And last year, Travis won third-place in a pizza bake-off against adults.
“For the first contest, we had to videotape him to show he’d done it all by himself,” she says.
Wyse-Hill has been cooking all her life, but she didn’t enter her first contest until 1984, when she won a third-place ribbon by entering a cake in the State Fair. Since then, there’s been little stopping her, winning awards in contests sponsored by Kraft, Minyard’s and others. She balances her hobby with her job at Corrigan Real Estate Services.
“Oh, I’ve thought about it (cooking professionally),” Wyse-Hill says. “But I think there’s plenty of time for that. I want to enter a few more contests, like the Pillsbury Bake-off. The winner gets a million dollars.”
News & Notes
TRASH-BASH: The fifth annual White Rock Lake Trash Bash is scheduled Sept. 23. The event is open to anyone who wants to help clean up the park. Registration begins at the Bathhouse, 521 East Lawther, at 8 a.m. Telephone pre-registration is encouraged; call 670-0949. Trash bags and plastic gloves will be supplied. When the work is done, trash-bashers can enjoy a free meal, children’s activities and a concert. Door prizes donated by local merchants will also be distributed.
OLD PHOTOS WANTED: The Vickery Place Neighborhood Association, bounded by Greenville Avenue, Belmont, Henderson, Central and Goodwin, is planning its fourth annual Vickery Place Historical Calendar. The neighborhood group needs old photos and memorabilia to feature in its 1996 calendar. The Texas State Historical Association recently honored the neighborhood for its calendar and neighborhood history preservation. Pictures of neighborhood houses, area businesses along Greenville and North Henderson, local schools and churches, and neighborhood residents are needed. For information, call Beth Bentley at 821-0831.
FARM-AID AT WHOLE FOODS: Show your support for Texas’ organic farmers by shopping at Whole Foods Markets Sept. 7. Five percent of Whole Foods’ sales that day will be donated to the Texas Organic Growers’ Association. All Whole Foods stores in Texas will participate, including our neighborhood store on Greenville at Belmont. Call 824-1744 for information.
THINK GLOBALLY, ACT LOYALLY: Dallas-based Intervention Ministries works to help the impoverished in Romania. On Sept. 2 at 8 a.m., the non-denominational Christian organization holds a Missions Marchathon at White Rock Lake. Proceeds will benefit the organization’s work in Romania. Call founder Cecil Pagel to march or to help out at 613-9148.
TO YOUR HEALTH: Doctors Hospital of Dallas, at the corner of Buckner and Garland, will soon complete its $40 million expansion project that began in 1994. The expansion includes a new West Tower medical office building, a parking garage, sports and industry care center and a new in-patient pharmacy. Call 324-6100 for information.
HELP WANTED: Family Outreach of East Dallas, 9100 Diceman, needs volunteers to help families in our community. Volunteers will be trained to staff the organization’s outreach office and stressline, to provide community education, to proctor parenting programs and to counsel families. Fall training classes begin Sept. 7. Call 321-6292 for information.
NEIGHBORHOOD REVEREND RETIRES: The Rev. Roy Harrell officially ends his 12-year tenure Oct. 1 at Ross Avenue Baptist Church. Harrell was ordained in 1946. He is a past president of the East Dallas Cooperative Parish and a recipient of the Paul Allen Award, the highest honor the parish confers upon a member. No replacement has been named. To contact the church, call 824-3671.
PARISH WINNER: The Rev. Bill Bryan is this year’s winner of the Paul Allen Award from the East Dallas Cooperative Parish. Bryan, who is now senior pastor at Lovers Lane United Methodist Church, previously served as pastor of Grace United Methodist Church. The Paul Allen award, named for an outstanding lay member of St. John’s Church, is periodically awarded to those who make outstanding contributions to the parish.
SE HABLA ESPANOL?: Do you speak Spanish? If you want to learn the language, the Lakewood United Methodist Church offers beginning and advanced Spanish courses. Classes begin the second week of September, and meet weekly for one hour. Tuition is a $25 donation for Firehouse Ministries. Call 823-9623 or Charlotte Gibson at 692-7305 to enroll.
JULIETTE FOWLER HOMES: Juliette Fowler Homes, a non-profit agency that provides residential care for the elderly and troubled youths, recently appointed neighborhood residents Robert McKelvy and the Rev. Nelson Irving to its board of directors for Fowler Christian Apartments.
THE ‘BRIDGES’ OF DALLAS COUNTY: The Greater Lakewood Shepherd Center will hold its fourth annual Dessert-Bridge-Canasta Party Sept. 15, at St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church at 12:30 p.m. Singles, doubles and foursomes are welcome, with prizes awarded to the highest scorer at each table. To participate, call 823-2583. There is a $5 entry fee.
DANCIN’ IN THE STREETS: On Sept. 16 at the First Interstate Bank in Lakewood, a ‘50s Rock ‘n’ Roll Street Dance will be held to benefit the Disciples of Trinity (DOT), a non-profit organization that serves the terminally ill. Tickets start at $35. Festivities begin at 7 p.m. and will include dunk booths, auctions, palm readings, food and drink provided by area restaurants. Call DOT at 826-4091.
‘PAPIER’-WORK: Neighborhood artist Lilia Estrada teaches a course in papier-mache, on Sept. 2 and Sept. 9 at the Bathhouse Cultural Center, 521 E. Lawther. The class is for anyone age 10 years or older. Estrada has been creating papier mache animals, figurines and angels since 1990. The classes run from 3-5 p.m. and are free. Call 670-8749 for information.
Calendar:
Through September – Pre-school story times are scheduled at the Lakewood Library, 6121 Worth, for children ages 3-6 on Wednesdays at 10:30 a.m. Bedtime stories are on Thursdays at 7 p.m. Call 670-1376
Sept. 5 – White Rock Newcomers’ Club holds its monthly meeting at the Holiday Inn at LBJ and Jupiter. Hospitality time is 9:30-10 a.m., with a luncheon served at 11:30 a.m., followed by bridge and dominoes. Call 826-9474.
Sept. 11 – A golf marathon benefiting Jonathan’s Place is scheduled at the Oak Ridge Country Club, 2800 Diamond Oaks in Garland, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Call 827-9595.
Sept. 12 – The Lakewood Chamber of Commerce monthly lunch will be held at the Lakewood Country Club at Abrams and Gaston. Mayor Ron Kirk is the speaker. Call 827-8921.
Sept. 16-17 – The SPCA’s second annual “Simply Cats” Household Cat Show is scheduled at the Fairmont Hotel Downtown. Call 651-9611 to register.
Sept. 20-Nov. 17 – “Visionaries and Rebels: American Literature after the Atom Bomb” is free and open to the public from 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m. weekdays at SMU’s DeGolyer Library on the SMU campus. Call 768-3225.
Through Sept. 22 – A free exhibit of paintings by French watercolorist Beatrice Lebreton is open to the public at the Dallas Visual Arts Center, 2917 Swiss. Call 821-2522.
Sept. 22-Oct. 8 – The Dallas Children’s Theater presents “Winnie-the-Pooh” at the El Centro College theater, Main and Market. Call 978-0110.
Sept. 25 – The East Dallas Chamber of Commerce monthly board meeting is scheduled at the Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Society Camp House, 8617 Garland Road, at 4 p.m. Call 321-6446.
Sept. 29-Nov. 17 – The Greater Lakewood Shepherd Center offers “Adventures in Learning” at 6255 East Mockingbird. Classes are offered in foreign language, news discussion groups, travelogues and book reviews. Call 823-2583.
Through Oct. 6 – Work by 75 art faculty members of the Dallas County Community College District is on display at the Dallas Visual Arts Center, 2917 Swiss. Call 746-2478.
