Mama Fu’s Asian House is donating a total of $23,750 to five local Austin, Texas charities after “champions” for each organization chewed and swallowed the hottest peppers on Earth at the Chilis for Charity Pepper Eating Challenge. An additional $250 bonus is being divided amongst the participating charities as a result of Saturday’s Chili Spice Market Menu sales from the Mama Fu’s Southpark Meadows restaurant.
The charities that earned the maximum prize amount ($5,000) had champions who ate the entire gauntlet of peppers, which included a Jalapeño, Serrano, Thai Chili, Scotch Bonnet, Habanero, Ghost Pepper, 7 Pot Brain Strain, Chocolate Trinidad Scorpion, and finally the Carolina Reaper, which comes in at about 2,000,000 Scoville units. Four champions each earned $5,000 for their charity:
- Iahana Heinz, Boys & Girls Clubs of the Austin Area
- Brianna Alldredge, Central Texas Food Bank
- Dirk Doud, Dell Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals
- Aimee Beasley-Spadoni, Austin Fire Foundation
One of the champions ate all the peppers listed above including the Carolina Reaper, but failed to “keep them all down.” Despite the elimination, Nathan Baker of Austin Pets Alive! earned $3,750 for his charity. Kieu Trang of the Austin Fire Foundation was the organization’s second champion, who made it to Level Three out of five when she reached her pepper-eating limit.
“We’re thrilled to donate this money to some of our favorite local charities who embraced this event and went all out,” says Randy Murphy, CEO of Mama Fu’s. “The turnout for our first annual event was phenomenal and the overall response was great. We’re looking forward to making this an annual event to benefit our hometown charities.”
Giant checks will be presented to the charities in the coming weeks. Visit www.chilisforcharity.com for video footage of the event, including interviews with each of the champions, the CEO of Mama Fu’s, Randy Murphy, and shots of the pepper-eating contest.”
