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)
Nocona is preparing for the 74th annual Chisholm Trail Rodeo May 8 and 9 at the Chisholm Trail Arena.
The rodeo will take place at 7:30 p.m. Nightly with the Ryan Ready Band playing for the rodeo dance afterward on Saturday night. Tickets in advance are $12 and $15 at the gate.
All the traditional rodeo events are planned along with non-sanctioned events of junior barrels for 16 and under. There is $250 added each night, a jackpot nightly and contestants have a $50 entry fee. Entries open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on May 4-5.
The new Chisholm Trail Rodeo Queen and Princess will be crowned during Saturday night’s performance. Read about these young ladies in your Thursday Bowie New.
Clara Anderson
TxDOT is hosting a virtual meeting to review projects included in the 2027-2030 Rural TIP.
The program is at 4 p.m. on May 6 and 11:59 p.m. on May 19, all online at https://bit.ly/4uhDwMG
The Rural TIP is a list of local projects to be funded during the next four years in the Wichita Falls District of the Texas Department of Transportation.
The counties included are Archer, Baylor, Clay, Cooke, Montague, Throckmorton, Wichita, Wilbarger, and Young. Transportation projects cannot receive federal funding unless they are included in the Rural TIP. This includes projects for private vehicles, bicycles, pedestrians, public transport, and commercial vehicles.
A section of Roach Street has been closed for the last few weeks as a new sewer line was installed replacing old clay tile line. It is phase two of multi-phase sewer line project across the city funded through a Texas Water Development Board loan of more than $9.7 million. The project will replace nearly10 miles of aging lines. (News photo by Barbara Green)
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