Edit: Since writing this post, all outstanding prize-payouts for past contests have been kindly and most generously, paid in full by @smooth.

@woman-onthe-wing has also returned all the donated currency that she has directly received back to the original donors.

Any currency that is generated by this post and is paid out in 7 days from today, will still be given to @woman-onthe-wing who will use it to fund the prize pool for next week's culinary challenge. Thanks so much for coming together as a community to support the SCC. I am very happy to report that the contest will continue!!! If you are new to Steemit or have never entered before please check it out and consider entering.

Life is always throwing us curve balls from time to time and it's up to us to figure out what the best course of action is to appropriately address each challenge that we find ourselves presented with.

Here's one such challenge that I am prepared to work on and find a solution for:

Approximately 3.5 months ago, @englishtchrivy handed the reins of the running of the Steemit Culinary Challenge over to @woman-onthe-wing to carry on. To date, we have had 33 successful Steemit Culinary Challenges. Since the contest started 9 months ago, we have only had to put the challenge on hold a few times for one reason or another. Otherwise it had been running pretty much consecutively week after week.

In the last 4 weeks, the main prize sponsor (who has been providing the winning prize every week for weeks 1-29) went missing. Attempts to repeatedly communicate through private emails and through post comments have gone unanswered.

In fact, not a word has been heard to confirm one way or the other, if this person still even wants to continue sponsoring the contest or being part of it, in any way.

So first of all, we can only hope that this person is alright and is just super busy or away traveling at the moment.

I, publicly would like to personally thank every one of our Steemit Culinary Challenge Sponsors and Guest Judges because without their past support, the SCC would've folded long ago (in my humble opinion).

At any rate, what this has meant is that we have about 3 weeks of past SCC winners who have not received their prizes (and some have been patiently waiting for over 30 days now).

The Steemit Culinary Challenge currently owes 200 Steem Backed Dollars to past competitors and @woman-onthe-wing confided in me that she will not let fellow Steemians go without the prizes that they have fairly won. As a result, she is preparing to pay these prizes directly out of her own wallet.

I don't feel that this is right so I am willing to help by donating 50 SBD to the cause myself.

(@woman-onthe-wing, is likely going to be mortified but too bad Girl! I can't and won't let you shoulder this alone.)

I also thought that making this post would shed some light on the challenge and that maybe if the community at large "knew" they might also like to help.

If you do want to help, please consider upvoting this post and re-steeming it, if you think the cause is worthy enough.

All SBDs that are generated from this post will be given directly to @woman-onthe-wing to clear the SCC's outstanding debt. If there happens to be more than 150 SBD generated, the extra currency will be put towards prizing to support the contest going forward. With any luck you, as the community, will see the value in helping this contest to be able to continue.

@knarly327 helped me to make this video before I started my working day, today. He uploaded it to his YouTube channel: Scrape Fe on July 11, 2017.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_JDtO0BkFc

Steemit is all about leveling the playing field among individuals and creating life-style opportunities, that up until this period of history, has not existed. The SCC like all the contests run on Steemit, support many new Steemians.

It gives new folks a place to start and the ability to learn how the platform works. It also helps them to build their reputations and get to know new people in the process.

For many of the contestants, English is not their first language so sharing a recipe with some photos becomes an easier translating process to start with. It was an invaluable program that really helped me to build my own reputation and gain Steeming confidence. I also think that this contest has become a cornerstone of the Steemit platform experience and it would be a shame for such a great contest not to exist anymore due to lack of communication or not trying to resolve operating issues with a solution, on my part.

We all have to eat folks, and this is "me" putting my currency where my mouth is.

Please consider supporting this initiative with your upvoting power and sharing this news with your friends.

(This post has been edited with new information at 8:36 pm, July 11, 2017 by Rebecca Ryan.)

Thank you for your consideration and I welcome your comments.

~ Rebecca Ryan