LULING — With 109 teams cooking jambalaya or gumbo, United Way of St. Charles kicked off its fundraising campaign with the 12th annual Battle for the Paddle cook-off at the West Bank Bridge Park in Luling.
The Battle for the Paddle is held to mark the beginning of the United Way of St. Charles’ annual campaign to raise funds that support local programs and agencies serving St. Charles Parish.
“We really enjoy this event because it brings the community together and creates a lot of excitement going into our annual fundraising campaign. Our goal this year is zero — meaning we want to raise enough money so that no one goes without the services needed in our community,” stated John Dias, UWSC executive director.
Cooking began at 11 a.m., and the public was invited to join from 3 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Over 3,200 attendees came out for unlimited sampling of the area’s best gumbo and jambalaya and live entertainment. The Battle for the Paddle event raised more than $30,000 for United Way of St. Charles.
The 2013 winners of the Battle for the Paddle include:
Jambalaya
First – Dow ETS King Cobras-Dow St. Charles Operations
Second – Monsanto Utilities-Monsanto
Third – Dow Cooking Solutions-Dow St. Charles Operations
Gumbo
First – Civil Construction
Second – Praxair
Third – Safe Zone
People’s Choice Awards
Gumbo – Covenant Cooks, Covenant Church
Jambalaya – Richie Pigeon, JDM
United Way of St. Charles also recognized its “Pacesetter” companies that held their United Way fundraising efforts before the official kickoff to help generate momentum for the campaign. The Pacesetter companies include Dow St. Charles Operations, Monsanto, Valero St. Charles Opera-tions, OxyChem, Norco Manufacturing Complex, Momentive Specialty Chemicals, Atmos Energy, Cornerstone Chemical Company, Falk Renew Prager and St. Charles Community Health Center.
For more information about United Way of St. Charles and how you can get involved, visit www.uwaysc.org or call 985-331-9063.