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)
It is once more time to spring forward as Daylight Saving Time begins on March 9. Move your clocks forward one hour before you go to bed on Saturday night, so you will not out on Sunday activities.
Tourism staff from the Texas Lakes Trail made their annual Travel Information Center Blitz Monday and their travels include a quick stop in Bowie to the World’s Largest Bowie Knife. Mayor Gaylynn Burris welcomed the group and Bowie Community Development’s Cindy Roller was taking part in the trek that began in Grapevine at 8 a.m. The bus then went to the TIC in Wichita Falls, followed by lunch on the road before a visit to the TIC in Gainesville and then the TIC in Denison before returning to Grapevine. Despite the dreary weather, the travelers said they were excited to see the knife that tourism and people in the industry talk about.
Montague County has a rich heritage of musicians who now or in the past, called the county home.
The Tales ‘N’ Trails Museum in Nocona is planning a temporary exhibit to honor these musicians. From “Big Tiny” Little, a regular on the Lawrence Welk Show to notables such as Honey Welch and The Spectre, from solo and group performers to music teachers and church instrumentalists, the museum would like to recognize these folks as part of our county and area history.
If you have newspaper clippings, programs, pictures, or other related memorabilia such as album covers, instruments, costumes, etc. that you would be willing to loan to the museum for a few months this would help make the exhibit a nostalgic and memorable attraction for museum visitors.
The museum will be accepting these items during the week of June 16-20. Please consider lending your items for this special exhibit.
They will scan any photographs, clippings, etc. to reproduce for the exhibit. Any three-dimensional items will be photographed and measured to help plan adequate exhibit space. You may then bring them in again as the exhibit is built.
The exhibit should open in October and be up for several months.
If you have questions, contact Museum Director Nell Ann McBroom at 940-867-3944 or exhibit volunteer Larry G. Lemons at 940-366-5782 or stop by the museum in Nocona.
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