The faces of those attending Monday’s check ceremony said everything there is to say about the success and importance of events like the annual Alabama River Chili Cookoff.

Organizers of the event, Leadership Selma-Dallas County Class XVIII, and sponsor Moore-Stewart Ford were on hand to present a $12,500 check to the board members of SABRA Sanctuary.

We were pleased to see the amount of money that was raised by the event and happy to see the reactions of those receiving the donation.

The Chili Cookoff’s profits go to a different local charity each year and so far the Salvation Army, Dallas County Resource Center, Cahaba Center for Mental Health and now SABRA have benefitted from the event. From the start, the event has been a success, but each year the crowd and the amount of money raised continues to go up.

When the total amount of the check was called out, SABRA executive director Nancy Travis gasped and tears began to flow. The amount raised was a true testament of the hard work put in by Leadership Class XVIII. But it’s really the community that makes events like this so successful.

We are inspired when we see the community come together and events like this succeed. It’s always good to see organizations such as SABRA Sanctuary receive the much-needed funds to help with day-to-day expenses.

SABRA recently has taken over three more counties — Marengo, Sumter and Green County — so the added funds were even more needed by the sanctuary.

Moving forward we hope to see the cookoff continue to succeed and that each year more and more money is raised for local charities that depend on fundraisers and community support to keep the doors open.