🗞️ Men stir up Brunswick stew all night for Kernersville

🗞️ Help Kernersville kids get winter coats

🗞️ Why are we not seeing the gas tax savings yet?

🗞️ Your Monday in Kernersville: leaf pickup starts, early voting resumes and a sunny 66

☀️ Sunny and pleasant | High: 66°F | Low: 41°F

The work week starts on a bright note. Expect sunshine all day with a high near 66 and a north wind of 8 to 12 mph that could gust to around 20, so it will feel a little crisp in the morning. Skies stay clear tonight with a low around 41. Tuesday turns even warmer, with more sunshine and a high near 72.

When most of Kernersville is asleep this Friday night, a crew of men at Bunker Hill United Methodist Church will be wide awake under the picnic shelter, taking turns stirring 400 to 425 quarts of Brunswick stew over open flame and gas fires until morning.

The United Methodist Men have held the all-night cookout for more than 15 years, and it's a family affair. "It's a span of generations," says church member Debbi Vandy. "It could be the young youth in our church coming with their dads, who are there with their dads, and even could be some grandfathers in there."

The stew sale is the group's main fundraiser, and the money goes wherever it's needed most, from yearly charities to local families going through a hard time. Farmer's Hardware donates the propane for every batch, so more of each sale goes to neighbors in need.

The fall sale is Saturday, Oct. 24, with pickup starting at 12 noon at the church picnic shelter, 1510 Bunker Hill-Sandy Ridge Rd. (at Highway 66). Stew is $10 a quart, and regulars reserve theirs early. To pre-order, call the church office at (336) 993-8132 or Kevin Siler at (336) 215-4573. Want to help? Friday, Oct. 23 is prep day, and volunteers can reach out to Kevin.

Read our full feature on the Bunker Hill Brunswick Stew tradition

Cold mornings are on the way, and the Knights of Columbus at Holy Cross Catholic Church want to make sure no Kernersville child waits for the school bus in a T-shirt. Council 8509's "Give a Kid a Coat" campaign is collecting donations now, the Kernersville News reports.

"We can't do a whole lot about the hunger, but we can do something about the coats," council trustee Chuck Tierney told the paper. The drive started years ago with about 25 coats. Last year it gave away 405, along with more than 100 hats knitted by the Holy Cross Columbiettes. The Kernersville Police Department helps get the coats to children who need them, and officers will start handing them out after the drive wraps up.

This year's drive is off to a strong start. A $2,500 grant from the Pope Foundation will buy at least 100 new coats, and a chance conversation at Costco turned into about $1,000 worth of donated coats.

How to help: Donations are accepted through Nov. 1. Drop gently used coats at the front lobby door of Holy Cross Catholic Church, 616 S. Cherry St., or mail a check made out to Knights of Columbus 8509 to Chuck Tierney at 5724 Brightington Court, Kernersville, NC 27284.

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North Carolina's 41-cent-per-gallon gas tax has been on pause since Oct. 10, but if your usual station's price hasn't budged much, there may be a simple reason. Attorney General Jeff Jackson told ABC45 that some stations are still selling fuel they bought before the pause, and that fuel already had the tax baked in.

Most stations get a new truckload about once a week. Once that tax-free fuel arrives, the law requires stations to pass the savings on to drivers. For a 15-gallon fill-up, that works out to about $6.15. Other costs can still move the price at the pump, though, so the full 41 cents may not always show up on the sign.

Jackson's office launched NC Fuel Check on Oct. 13 to keep an eye on stations, and it had received more than 220 complaints by Friday. A complaint doesn't mean a station broke the law. The tax pause runs through Nov. 30.

Think a station isn't passing along the savings? You can report it at ncdoj.gov/ncfuelcheck.

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Here's what's worth knowing as the new week gets going.

The weather is on your side. Expect sunshine all day and a high near 66, with a north breeze that keeps the morning crisp. Tuesday warms to about 72.

Leaf season starts today. The town's leaf collection runs from Oct. 19 to Dec. 17, then pauses for the holidays from Dec. 18 to 27. Rake your leaves to the curb, but keep them out of the street so they don't block traffic. The town can't promise specific pickup days or times. Questions go to Public Services at (336) 996-6916.

Early voting is back. Polls reopen from 8 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. at the Kernersville Recreation and Event Center, Paddison Memorial Branch Library and the Walkertown Branch Library. Early voting runs through Oct. 31.

Plan ahead. Wednesday's ACE-HTI Chili Cookoff benefits the Salvation Army, and Saturday is packed: the Bunker Hill stew sale, the VFW Fall Fest and the Market for All Seasons. See the events calendar above for details.