LULING — With 70 teams cooking jambalaya or gumbo, United Way of St. Charles kicked off its fundraising campaign with the eigtht annual Battle for the Paddle cook-off last week at the West Bank Bridge Park in Luling.

The Battle for the Paddle is held to mark the beginning of United Way of St. Charles annual campaign to raise funds that support local programs and agencies serving St. Charles Parish.

“We could not be happier about the excitement that the Battle for the Paddle generates in the community as the kickoff event for our Annual Campaign. Our goal is $2.2 million dollars this year, and we are confident the type of energy generated by the Battle for the Paddle will serve us well as we work to raise funds and support our community,” stated John Dias, UWSC executive director.

Cooking began at 11 a.m. and the public was invited to join from 4 – 7:30 p.m. Over 2,200 attendees came out for unlimited sampling of the area’s best gumbo and jambalaya, games and live entertainment. The Battle for the Paddle event raised over $15,000 for United Way of St. Charles.

The 2009 winners of the Battle for the Paddle include:

Jambalaya

First place – Bryan Unger’s Team, Dow St. Charles

Second place – Willie Smith’s Team, Cytec 2

Third place – Team Lemmon, Judge Lauren Lemmon

Gumbo

First place – St James Connection, Shell/Motiva

Second place – Bob Bourgeios’s Team, Zachry

Third place – The Krew of Stew, Valero

People’s Choice Awards

Gumbo: Cooking with Fire, St. Charles Parish Public Schools

Jambalaya: Wangsta’s Crew, St. Charles Parish Public Schools

United Way of St. Charles also recognized its “Pacesetter” companies who held their United Way fundraising efforts before the official kickoff to help generate momentum for the campaign. The Pacesetter companies include Valero, Dow, Entergy Waterford 3, Monsanto, OxyChem, Cytec, Hexion, ADM, J&K Office Supplies and Quality Janitorial.

For more information about United Way of St. Charles and how you can get involved, visit www.uwaysc.org or call 985-331-9063.