Cookoff/Foundation Philanthropy

2019 Foundation Grants

The Exchange Club of Tuscaloosa Foundation awarded $15,000 in community grants to six West Alabama nonprofit organizations – as listed above during the Club’s weekly meeting on August 22, 2019.

The Tuscaloosa News

November 15, 2015

Exchange Club  donates money to local groups

Front Row, left to right: Holly Hillard, Easter Seals; Jennifer Patrick, Miracle League; Latrelle Porter, Hospice of WA; Back Row, from Left to right: Jordan Plaster and Ronny Johnston, Easter Seals; Glen Smith, Exchange Club; and Albert Avery, Hospice of WA

The Exchange Club of Tuscaloosa donated $45,000 to three local organizations at its October meeting.



Hospice of West Alabama received $20,000 to use for general purposes.

Easter Seals received $20,000 toward its capital campaign to raise money for a new 56,000-squarefoot facility that will also be home to the Tuscaloosa office of the Alabama Department of Rehabilitation Services.

The Miracle League of Tuscaloosa will receive $5,000 to help build a sculpture in a memorial garden to honor those who were part of the league who are now deceased. The league provides disabled children with the opportunity to play baseball on a specially designed field.

The club accepted applications to determine which area organizations should be awarded.



Money for the donations was accumulated from the last five years of the club’s annual chili cook-off. The cook-off is held every year on the second Saturday in February.



More than 30 teams competed in the 2015 chili cookoff, held at the Bryant Conference Center.



It’s a large-scale family event, with competitors investing as much in costumes and showmanship as in the food, supplemented by live music, kids activities, free ice cream, cheese biscuits and more.

The event also allowed attendees to taste and vote on their favorite chili.

Various businesses, nonprofit organizations, fire and sheriff’s departments and other groups entered, and about 1,000 visitors ambled through to sample the wares and enjoy the performances.

Prizes for best booth and showmanship were awarded for  groups who dress up in something like “Wizard of Oz” or Wild West saloon or “Duck Dynasty” characters, as in 2013, using pun-filled names such as Chili Chili Bang Bang, Blazing Saddles or Armadilly Chili.