Having just celebrated its seventh year, the Crabbing for Charity event in Savannah, Georgia brought in quite the turnout. Michelle Bazemore started the event as a way to give back to the community and its popularity continues to grow with hundreds in attendance this year.

The concept is straightforward. There is a small registration fee for access to the banquet, t-shirt, food and festivities. The added twist – the crabbing tournament. The individual who brings in the dozen heaviest crabs wins the prize pool of nearly $9,000; they then select the destination of the winnings.

This year’s winner, with over nine pounds of crab, was JC Jones. He set out on September 24 with coworker, Chad Hale for a relaxing day of fall crabbing. When he returned in the late afternoon for the weigh-in, Jones got a surprise. “They weighed my crab and said, at the time, I was in the lead with only a few people still out,” Jones said.

Once it was official, Jones split his winnings of almost $9,000 evenly between four charitable organizations.  The local Humane Society, a local construction worker whose young son was killed in a four wheeler accident, the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and Help Save One of Our Own – an organization helping out a Vietnam veteran with Multiple Sclerosis.

After the crabs were collected, attendees enjoyed the haul in a low country boil. The post-tournament banquet featured crabs, hamburgers, hot dogs, live band and other activities and entertainment.

“I had a lot of fun at the event and it felt good to be able to give back,” Jones said. “I wanted to make sure everything was local. It was important to me that the money stay in the community.”

Jones works at Hunt Construction Group as the superintendent on the Chatham County Detention Center project in Savannah. He was joined by project engineer Chad Hale, known now around the job as Crabby Chad for his part in the successful crabbing excursion.