Texas High School BBQ Cookers
The Premiere Events Community Grant: $2,500
Texas High School BBQ Cookers is a nonprofit association created to promote and sanction extracurricular cookoffs while promoting and preserving barbeque education. The organization encourages students to attend State High School BBQ Championships, Regional State Cook-Offs, and barbeque events supporting high school youth, teachers, vocational training, agriculture, and community.
The AFWA grant helped create a more formal program to motivate high schools to start and encourage High School BBQ Teams, inspiring students to learn the art of live-fire cooking — including barbecue, grilling, and chuckwagon Dutch oven, as well as vocational welding skills.
This grant also made outreach to all high schools in the state possible, impacting thousands of young people who will carry on the Texas tradition of smoked meat and barbecue. The grant encouraged young people to learn how to feed themselves, Texas Style, and take pride in our state's heritage.