LULING — With 123 teams cooking jambalaya or gumbo, United Way of St. Charles kicked off its fundraising campaign Oct. 2 with the record-breaking 13th annual Battle for the Paddle cook-off at the West Bank Bridge Park in Luling.

The Battle for the Paddle marks the beginning of the United Way of St. Charles’ annual campaign to raise money to 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,” John Dias, UWSC executive director, said. “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.”

Cooking began at 11 a.m., and the public was invited to join from 3 to 8 p.m. A record-breaking 7,000 attendees came out for unlimited sampling of the area’s best gumbo, jambalaya and live entertainment.

The Battle for the Paddle raised over $40,000 for United Way of St. Charles.

United Way of St. Charles also recognized its “Pacesetter” companies who held their United Way fundraising efforts before the official kickoff to generate campaign momentum.

Pacesetter companies include Dow St. Charles Operations, Monsanto, Valero St. Charles Operations, OxyChem, Norco Manufacturing Complex, Momentive Specialty Chemicals, Falk Renew Prager, Creative Family Solutions, St. Charles Parish Council on Aging and St. Charles Community Health Center.

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