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)
Volunteers will be in downtown Bowie Sept. 17 and 18 for a clean-up and decorate event for upcoming fall activities.
Bowie Community Development will be coordinating this work in preparation for Chicken and Bread Days and other activities. Volunteers will gather at 4 p.m. on Sept. 17 and 8 p.m. on Sept. 18.
Those who want to clean up during the day are certainly welcome as Bowie gets ready for fall.
Nocona High School homecoming will be the week of Sept. 9-13.
Members of the homecoming court were announced this week and will be crowned on Friday. The king will be named at the pep rally at noon and the queen during halftime.
Senior queen nominees are: Graci Brown, Jessie Howard, Avery Crutsinger and Megyn Meekins. Senior king nominees are: Jake Pribble, Caden Gaston, Jackson Brown and Kasch Johnson.
The Indians play S&S at 7 p.m. The band performs at 6:30 p.m. The volleyball varsity plays Lindsay at 4:30 p.m.
Due to the burn band there will be “nonfire” festivities on Sept. 11 at Mary Beckman Davis Park. There will be food trucks starting at 6:30 p.m. followed by a decorated ATV-golf cart parade.
Decorate your entry and line up at the post office at 7:15 p.m. The pep rally will be at 8 p.m. in the downtown park.
It was the deadliest terror attack to ever take place on U.S. soil. On Sept. 11, 2001, conspirators from the al-Qaida Muslim militant group seized control of jets to use them as passenger-filled missiles, hitting the trade center’s twin towers and the Pentagon. The fourth plane was headed for Washington but crashed near Shanksville after crew members and passengers tried to storm the cockpit.
The attacks killed nearly 3,000 people, reconfigured national security policy and spurred a U.S. “war on terror” worldwide.
Today marks the 23rd remembrance of this heart-breaking day that changed America. Please take a moment today to thank those who ran into the buildings and fires, and remember those who did not return home that day.
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