COUNTY LIFE
‘One big family:’ Nocona Thanksgiving feast a true community project
By DEBRA DUNLAP
About 13 years ago, Belinda Hendrix had an idea. That idea became a vision. She shared that vision with members of her church and they embraced it and made it a passion.
Once implemented, that passion became a Nocona tradition.
Belinda and her husband, Don, founded and became pastors of Christ Community Church in Nocona 14 years ago. Like many churches, when the holiday season came around, the congregation donated food and made up baskets to deliver to the least fortunate of the community. After having done that for two years, Belinda came up with a different plan.
“It always kind of bothered me that we were taking all the ingredients for a Thanksgiving meal to the families, instead of taking the meal itself,” recalled Belinda. “I had worked with the poor before, and I know that there are sometimes circumstances where there are not facilities to prepare the food that we take to them.”
She pondered many of these people may not have propane to heat their homes or bake a turkey, water to wash potatoes or even have anything to cook with. Hendrix said the food they deliver is worthless if that is the situation.
Her idea was to actually prepare a Thanksgiving feast and invite the community to join in, along with delivering meals to anyone who requested it. Read in your mid-week News. how this idea has evolved into a major community event with hundreds being fed.
Pictured: Folks enjoyed last year’s Thanksgiving Community Dinner. (Courtesy photo)
Don Hendrix and his wife Belinda gave life to the idea of a community Thanksgiving feast in Nocona. (Courtesy photo)
Bowie High School will honor veterans at 8:45 a.m. on Nov. 11 in the high school gym. Staff and students invite area veterans to join them for a veteran’s breakfast at 8 a.m. followed by a ceremony where each veteran will be recognized for their service to the country.
Veterans are asked to register at: https://bit.ly/VeteransDay2026RSVP.
The staff of the Montague County Veteran’s Service office is partnering with the American Legion Post 220 for its Veterans Day program at 11 a.m. on Nov. 11 at the post home at 801 W. U.S. 82. Veterans and their families are invited to join a complimentary lunch.
Montague County voters joined the rest of the state with a tremendous turnout in Tuesday’s elections.
The elections administration office reported with all 10 precincts counted a turnout of 56.01% or 8,732 casting ballots. There are 15,591 registered voters in the county.
While there were no county contested races, there were two city council and two school board elections.
The Bowie City Council has three places on the ballot. Laura Sproles, incumbent, was not challenged for her place two.
Levi Bailey won the precinct one seat with 925 votes. Valerie Thomerson received 328 votes.
In precinct three, Terry Gunter won with 1,027 votes and Glenda Durham was second with 383
Read the full story in the Thursday Bowie News.
(Top image: Courtesy photo, Jody Langston runs an informative table on Wise Hope Shelter & Crisis Center at the National Night Out Oct. 6.)
An American is sexually assaulted every 73 seconds. One in three Texans experience domestic violence in their lifetime. Statewide, intimate partner violence claimed the lives of 160 individuals in 2025 alone.
Behind these staggering statistics from organizations like Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network and the Texas Council on Family Violence are real people, and that is precisely why the Wise Hope Shelter & Crisis Center exists.
This October, during Domestic Violence Awareness Month, the agency stands as a vital resource. Originally founded on Aug. 2, 1999, following the 1997 organization of the Wise County Domestic Violence Task Force, the 501(c)(3) nonprofit was created to address violence in rural north-central Texas.
Supported by hundreds of volunteers, Wise Hope has since grown to encompass a 20-bed, 4,800-square-foot shelter, three outreach offices and a thrift store, and the agency is preparing to announce an upcoming renovation project soon.
Read the full story in your Thursday Bowie News.
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