Shelton State’s Free Tuscaloosa, Alabama Community Event Serves Hundreds

Wednesday, July 21st, Shelton State Community College teamed up with Chesapeake Consulting to give Tuscaloosa a free community event. What started as a small idea and blossomed into a huge event in Tuscaloosa's West End.

The first-ever Tuscaloosa CommUNITY event was a huge success at the McDonald Hughes Center. People from all over Tuscaloosa came out and enjoyed free food, community resources, and live entertainment. Shelton State's basketball team was in attendance putting on a show in the gym along with Stillman College's basketball team. There was not one, but two DJs in attendance, and people even walked away with jobs. Vendors were hiring on-site! Food trucks were there and everyone received a free meal from the food trucks.

One o the highlights of my day was getting to talk with the President of Shelton State Community College Brad Newman. He was so grateful for all of the organizations being present and assured me that this is just the beginning. He plans to do more for this community and the children.

Shelton State's Men's Basketball coach Joe Eatmon spoke about the success of the event. "We served anywhere from 350-400 people today. We had people that got jobs on the spot and received services that they didn't even know they'd qualify for on the spot. It was a great day for the community," Eatmon said.

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In the ballroom of the McDonald Hughes Center, there were organizations like The Tuscaloosa One Place, The Alabama Department Of Public Health, First Federal Bank, Core Focus, and more giving people job opportunities and resources. In all, there were close to 100 vendors in total throughout the event. Everyone was there offering free services and information. That's amazing!

According to coach Joe Eatmon, there are plans to do this event again. "We plan on doing this quarterly. The next one we're going to do in October. We plan on making it bigger and better. "